03 – Adventure, precarity and colonial nostalgia: A conversation with Jethro Norman about European ex-soldiers turned private security contractors in East Africa

In this episode, Heidi Mogstad talks to Jethro Norman about his ethnographic research with European veterans working and living as private military and security contractors in East Africa. Jethro argues for the importance of taking seriously the voices and experiences of veterans and ‘mercenaries’, including their attachments to and critiques of their own societies, the military, and national and colonial history. He also unsettles conventional ideas and stereotypes about contractors, war, and international green zones. Finally, Heidi challenges Jethro to reflect on the pleasures and discomfort he experienced during his novel and volatile fieldwork. Jethro Norman is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. His current research project explores the political and humanitarian impact of Somali diaspora groups, from the perspective of communities within Somalia. He is also writing a book based on his PhD, which was an ethnographic study of former European soldiers working and living in East Africa as private military and security contractors. Heidi Mogstad is a Post-Doctoral Researcher for the “War and Fun: Reconceptualizing Warfare and Its Experience” project at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway.