I recently interviewed Dr. Mariana Grohowski, founding and managing editor of the Journal of Veteran Studies and past president of the Veteran Studies Association (VSA) to discuss the emerging academic discipline, veteran studies.

What is Veteran Studies and Why is it Important?

Veteran studies, Dr. Grohowski explains, is very closely related to military studies - similar topics are discussed such as topics relating to the experience of being in the military. Where the discussion diverges is in researching and analyzing topics relating to veteran transition and other important topics on the veteran as an individual in society. Veteran studies is about the veteran experience in all the ways that that means. Dr. Grohowski teaches at the University of California, Irvine where she teaches a course called Veteran Voices. This class looks at the many modalities used by veterans to express their personal stories, ranging from op-eds in newspapers, poetry, and literature, to community activism. As such, veteran studies is an interdisciplinary space - it incorporates frameworks and narratives from multiple academic disciplines

Most importantly, veteran studies is not a focus on brokenness. Most people, when they think about veterans or veteran related issues think about PTSD, military sexual trauma, or any one of the incessant commercials about exposure to harmful chemicals. These topics are important, but they are not the entirety of the veteran experience. Veteran studies, Dr. Grohowski adds, is about the humanity of the individual who identifies as a veteran. At the end of the day, she emphasizes, she wants her students to walk away understanding the shared similarities between veterans and civilians. Many of her students are not veterans and have little connection to the military. Of her 60 to 80 students this term, only one has military related experience. She sees her classes - and the veteran studies discipline -- as way to bridge the civilian-military divide in our society; a gulf between two communities that also exists within higher education.

Veteran Studies as an Academic Discipline

Veteran studies is an emerging discipline that grew out of the work from several scholars in higher education, some of whom are veterans. Eastern Kentucky University has had a long-running veteran studies minor and certificate program, Dr. Grohowski explains, while other institutions like the University of Missouri, St. Louis and Virginia Tech are growing programs that focus on veteran studies. The challenge, she says, is that veteran studies has not yet coalesced around a theoretical framework. There is no one veteran experience or one veteran perspective because the veteran community is as diverse as the country at large. However, in this is opportunity: scholars and researchers who focus on veteran studies have an opportunity to center the veteran perspective on a wide range of subjects that have not included veteran perspectives.

As an example, Drs. Glenn A. Phillips and Yvonne S. Lincoln in 2017 introduced Veteran Critical Theory (VCT) as an important framework to analyze structures and systems that affect veterans. Phillips and Lincoln state the goals of VCT are "to question the status quo, make an immediate impact on the experiences of student veterans and understand the issues facing student veterans from the veterans' perspective." Policy and procedure, they add, are shaped as analysis shaped by VCT challenges higher education institutions to develop programs and research that can help "better understand, respect, and serve student veterans." VCT provides methods of evaluation to consider how existing university policies or research practices marginalize veterans. VCT grew from the veteran studies ecosystem and emerging scholars of veteran studies, of which I am one, who seek to shift scholarly and public narratives about veterans.

Veteran Studies: A Personal Perspective

I am a PhD candidate at Union Institute and University, in an interdisciplinary program that afforded me the opportunity to choose an area of research in which I have centered my experience as a veteran. In 2020, I joined VSA, which Dr. Grohowski along with Drs. Jim Dubinsky, Bruce Pencek, and Eric Hodges chartered to promote and publish rigorous scholarship that shapes veteran experiences. Through the VSA I found community as I progressed through my PhD program and within my research area. Working with them, I have had the opportunity to publish in the Journal of Veteran Studies and work on projects that advance dialogue and understanding of veteran experiences. These experiences have shaped my dissertation research and helped me to make sense of my experiences as I transitioned from the military to civilian life and then to higher education. I am one of many emerging scholars in this space and I can honestly assert that this space is an ever-growing academic space - albeit a space in a relatively nascent stage - where a veteran-scholar can make a difference that can impact policy and discourse within the academic realm. One of my biggest disappointments when I began my graduate work was to find that research and academic discourse did not once center veteran perspectives within my research area. Veteran studies and the Veteran Studies Association helps higher education bridge divides and foreground veteran perspectives within scholarly discourse.

Article Topics

Research on Student Veterans Serving Military in HigherEd Veterans Academic Success Women Veterans Working as a Veteran in HigherEd Workplace Inclusion

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