Peering Through the Fog: A Proposal for Veteran Critical Theory

As veterans return from Post 9/11 conflict and service, many will choose to enter institutions of higher education. The current scholarship on student veterans is predominately descriptive or assessing particular policies or procedures. As student veteran scholarship grows, researchers need to explore the experiences of student veterans in an additional dimension?a critical dimension. Moreover, scholars need a unified language with which to speak.

This project examines the tenets of five critical theories (feminist theory, critical race theory, queer theory, disability theory, and border theory) and evaluates how they interact with the current literature on student veterans if repositioned for this unique population. What comes of this interaction is veteran critical theory?eleven suggested tenets of a new critical theory that recognizes and works to emancipate marginalized or otherwise oppressed men and women who have served in the United States military.

Though the theory is housed within the context of higher education, the tenets are not restricted to this environment. The implications of this work include an extension of critical scholarship that includes veterans and potential applications of veteran critical theory outside of higher education?in workplaces, families, and communities.