Becoming a soldier PhD among Manawatū graduates

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Nina Harding with Chief of Army, Major General Peter Kelly.

Becoming a soldier PhD among Manawatū graduates

An academic who joined the New Zealand Army to track the journey of new recruits from basic training to deployment in the field as part of her PhD research, will be among 500 graduates celebrating in Palmerston North on Friday.

Nina Harding’s doctoral degree in social anthropology involved the Army sanctioning her to work inside their ranks for two years. Like her fellow recruits, she started with push-ups in boot camp, but ended with a thesis that challenges both academia and the Armed Forces to think differently about how people transition and evolve their identity from civilian to soldier.

“Academics who have researched the military tend to discuss identity too academically,” says Ms Harding. “They tend to ‘think’ the world, rather than act in it, and presume everyone is like them. But being in the Army is a about being a ‘doer’ not a thinker, so I had to find a different theoretical framework to frame my study.”

Ms Harding observed as the new recruits worked their way through the process of acquiring and adapting their identity to ‘soldier’.

“Life in the military seems so mysterious to outsiders. There are preconceived notions that people are stripped of their existing identity and abandon who they are in order to become soldiers.”

However, she found that many of the recruits already held similar values and perspectives with physical prowess and action highly valued, and she, as an academic ‘outsider’ was viewed differently.

“I injured my arm during basic training, so I wasn’t able to keep up with all the recruits’ physical activities. I was still writing notes, but this wasn’t seen as work, and didn’t go down well with some of the recruits.”

“Army life is different to what you see in the movies – the sergeants at basic training were nice and supportive, not yelling at everyone all the time. Most of the new recruits were keen to challenge themselves and learn new skills. Their sense of identity evolved as they acquired the skills of becoming a soldier, but they didn’t abandon who they originally were. They added to their existing identity as they became soldiers.”

She also discovered that once the main learning curve was completed, boredom and disillusionment set in for many active learners.

“Once they were in the Army proper, they discovered they weren’t training enough in acquiring new skills. Being a soldier wasn’t as challenging as becoming a soldier, and they got bored. When they were deployed to the Solomon Islands it was towards the end of the mission there, when peace had been restored and the job of maintaining order handed back to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

Ms Harding says her thesis will offer insights to both academia and the Armed Forces, and could prove useful for the Army’s retention strategy. “The kind of challenge-driven people who are attracted to the Army may also be some of the hardest to retain during peacetime. This study may be of use in identifying how the Army can retain their valuable staff.”

Ms Harding presented her PhD thesis to the Armed Forces at a ceremony in Wellington recently, and will have her doctorate conferred at Massey University’s November graduation in Palmerston North.

Graduation overview:

Over 500 mortarboards will flood the streets of Broadway this Friday, as Massey’s newest graduates accept and celebrate their degrees over three ceremonies.

A total of 538 students, including 173 receiving master’s degrees and 31 doctoral degrees – will be awarded over three ceremonies at the Regent on Broadway.

Other highlights include an honorary Doctor of Science degree, which will be awarded to former Massey Chancellor, Dr Russell Ballard, and MP Iain Lees-Galloway crossing the stage to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts.

Twitter and instagram users attending graduation day – whether in academic robes or as family and friends – are encouraged to share highlights using the hashtag #MasseyGrad.

You can watch a live stream of each ceremony here [link to come].

Manawatū Graduation Ceremonies – Friday, November 25, 2016.

Ceremony One

9.30am

College of Sciences
Guest speaker: Former Massey University Chancellor Dr Russell Ballard.

Ceremony Two

12.30pm

Professional and Continuing Education (PaCE)

New Zealand School of Music

College of Creative Arts

College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Guest speaker: Massey University Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey.

Ceremony Three

3.30pm
Massey Business School

College of Health
Guest speaker: Chairman of the Bank of China (New Zealand), Chris Tremain.

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