Description
Based on the authors PhD, this paper seeks to explore the meaning of criticality within the Critical Military Studies field. Through her own position as an RAF Veteran and critical military researcher, this paper draws on key philosophical and ontological tensions and trade-offs experienced in conducting primary research on military institutions. The paper challenges militarised gendered standards of knowledge, prioritised in the ‘age of the knowledge economy’ (Catignani and Basham, 2021) by exploring different gendered ways of knowing. In research which attempts to make organisational change by working with the military institution itself rather than against it, the researcher meditates on the political act of knowledge co-production with the military subject and the institution. She asks, is it possible to promote organisational change within the military institution, without a moral trade off? Through a Feminist Ethics of Care lens, which seeks to recognise choice, agency and care of subjects, she attempts to make sense of these ethical dilemmas to challenge academics to rethink and redefine how to enact change and impact.
