Parades, Parties and Pests: Contradictions of Everyday Life in Peacekeeping Economies

Abstract

Based on research studies conducted in the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2006, 2012 and 2013, this article argues that peacekeepers’ everyday experiences reflect a series of contradictory identities and performances with regard to nation, work and gender. Peacekeepers straddle paradoxical worlds simultaneously and manage oppositional demands and obligations, although it is often assumed that they inhabit peacekeeping economies in homogenous ways. Importantly, the experiences provide opportunities for peacekeepers to invest in, accumulate and deploy military capital; to consolidate their military identities; and to favourably and tactically position themselves as deserving and useful subjects within the peacekeeping landscape.

Keywords:

• peacekeeping
• gender
• everyday
• performance
• peacekeeping economy
• Liberia

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the support and help of Morten Bøås and Kathleen Jennings as well as anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thank the University of Sussex IR Department, University of Birmingham's International Development Department and the Gender Institute at LSE for providing me with helpful feedback and reminding me to push my analysis further wherever possible.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Marsha Henry is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MPhil/PhD Programme in Gender at the LSE. Before taking up her post at LSE, she was a lecturer in the School for Policy Studies (2002–6) and the Politics Department at the University of Bristol (2006–9). ([email protected])