Just like others: Constructing identity & assigning agency in child soldier narratives.

摘要

Child soldiers present a challenge to international law and norms---the definition of a child is not universal nor are the opinions about their culpability. I ask how analyzing the narratives of two former child soldiers through narrative analysis and positioning theory and inform our understanding of their culpability and agency. I found that the former child soldiers created storyworlds to normalize their experiences and use linguistic methods of complicating their agency. This ambiguity shows a higher level of agency within a violence system, which goes against binaries embedded in international laws, norms, and understanding.