Soldier's everyday life: Masculanity, militarism and performance on the axis of power

This study considers the military service as a daily life experience and discusses it within the framework of commonness. The everyday life of male bodies, which are constructed as political subjects, are being looked at through anthropological approach. The study examines the tendencies of intersection and articulation of discourses about nation state, compulsory military service and masculinity and the construction forms of these discourses so as to ensure the military service qua arguable experience in daily life. Men's communication and its influence on post-military life indicate that masculinity is not experienced by a single way and that there are different forms of masculinity. Therefore, in this study, the issues of masculinity and hegemonic masculinity are examined and it is stated that a single definition of masculinity is unfeasable. The endeavor to make the various forms of masculinity visible through military experience is important to understand the nation state strategies for transforming individuals and constructing body-subjects. The present study focuses on the appearances of military service, power and forms of subjectivity in everyday life and considers the military service as a process of male subjectivity, not as a constituent element of masculinity, and also focuses on micro-power mechanisms and their alterative and transformative power in the very experience itself. Keywords: Compulsory military service, militarism, masculinity, everyday life.