[Linganth] Janet McIntosh on her book, Kill Talk

[Ilana Gershon]

Dear Colleagues,
Norma Mendoza-Denton interviews Janet McIntosh about her new book, Kill
Talk: Language and Military Necropolitics today on the blog.

www.campanthropology.org

Best,
Ilana

Press Blurb: The language used by American military personnel can be
intense and confrontational, yet the relationship between language and
military violence is rarely examined in depth. This groundbreaking book
offers a unique perspective on how language facilitates the work of combat
infantry-the state's killable killers. Through vivid ethnographic research,
Janet McIntosh meticulously traces the nuances of military “kill talk” as
it permeates the vast nervous system of the military, from the first
exposure to yelling in Marine Corps basic training to the dark humor and
nihilistic expressions found in war zones in Vietnam and the Middle East.
McIntosh reveals how military trainers use language to deindividuate,
toughen, and masculinize recruits, while infantry soldiers develop distinct
linguistic repertoires and attitudes to suppress empathy, dehumanize and
racialize the enemy, cope with loss, and dwell in a moral gray zone.

*Kill Talk* also addresses national debates over language use in a diverse
world, exploring tensions between calls for sensitivity and restraint in
military speech and the perception that these can threaten national
security. The book highlights the contradictions between the rhetoric of
military honor and moral integrity and the harsh, sometimes depraved,
language of combatants, suggesting that these paradoxes enable military
violence yet contribute to moral injury. It concludes with an exploration
of veteran poets and artists who have found innovative ways to use language
and other forms of expression to critique military institutions and begin
the process of demilitarizing their psyches.
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