'Don't fight the blue elephant' : Humorous signs as protests and conductors of negotiations in Swedish Peace Support Operations

• This article focuses on the role of ”applied” workplace humor (Mulkay 1988) as used by Swedish soldiers deployed overseas. The data primarily refers to workplace signs encountered at military compounds in Liberia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan and interviews with Swedish soldiers before, during, and after deployment. The article aims to compare signs found in two types of military contexts; high and – low-intensity conflict areas respectively, and the findings show that differences in the nature of operations (i.e. threat level and duties) is reflected in the messages’ content. Further, we see humorous exchanges during overseas missions as something that provide the scope for relieving various stresses arising from disillusions, and from being subordinated to rules, policies and designed roles, but also where barbed ideas inappropriate for ”serious” communication are vented (Fine 1988). Overall, the paper adds to the literature a description of humorous exchanges in two organizational settings where the need for sense making is always present.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

applied humor

deployment stress

Peace Support Operations

Sweden

Working Life Science

Arbetsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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