Military spouses in contemporary Estonia: meaning making in the stories of the wives and partners of active servicemen

The article concentrates on understanding military spouses in contemporary Estonia. Theoretical considerations involve military culture and the storied world. We discuss the dominant and contesting narratives that emerged from 14 interviews concerning patriotism, self-sustainability, freedom of choi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Baltic studies Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 307 - 325
Main Authors Truusa, Tiia-Triin, Kasearu, Kairi, Strömpl, Judit
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2021
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Ambiguity
antenarrative
Civilians
Concept formation
Military culture
Military personnel
Military service
military spouse
Narratives
Patriotism
Positioning
Servicemen
Spouses
storied world
Wives
Women
Estonia
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Summary:The article concentrates on understanding military spouses in contemporary Estonia. Theoretical considerations involve military culture and the storied world. We discuss the dominant and contesting narratives that emerged from 14 interviews concerning patriotism, self-sustainability, freedom of choice and identity as military spouses. The dominant narratives demonstrate a strong adherence to military values though overtly the women identified more with the civilian world. The contesting narratives suggest adverse implications for family well-being. To conclude, Estonia needs a public discussion concerning families of military service members who find themselves on the cusp of two worlds, the civilian and the military. The ambiguous self-positioning of military spouses between the military and civilian worlds needs acknowledgement and further conceptualization.
ISSN:0162-9778
1751-7877
DOI:10.1080/01629778.2021.1915830