From Bullies to Officers and Gentlemen

Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum graduated in African Studies at Leiden University in 2011, where he studied political violence and insecurity and their implications on young people’s future planning in post-conflict Guinea-Bissau. In 2016, he received his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently, the author is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Amsterdam.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChapter 1. The Breakdown of EverydaynessChapter 2. On Hierarchy and Trust: ‘Monkeys Play by Sizes’Chapter 3. On discipline: Disciplining the Body and the MindChapter 4. New Soldiers on the Block: From Buga-Buga Soldier to Disciplined Soldier SubjectsChapter 5. Factors of Continual SubjectionChapter 6. Transformation in Broad Perspective: Professionalism, Civility and Civil-Military RelationsConclusionReferencesIndex

“It goes beyond the older studies of military regimes in the “Third World” and beyond more contemporary ethnographies of guerilla movements and violent gangs in Africa (and to an extent parts of Asia). The emphasis on the everydayness of military life and the chapters about the different generations and their expectations of themselves, their careers, globalization and the military are excellent.” • Eyal Ben-Ari, Kinneret Academic College“This project is based on an unparalleled access to a notoriously difficult institution… [It] is a solid work that… brings an unusual perspective to studies of the military.” • Daniel Hoffman, University of Washington