This article proposes the concept of ‘war veteranship’ to better understand war veterans’ positioning in and engagement with post-war societies and state-building processes. The study is based on ethnographic research with former insurgent movements, specifically the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) in Mozambique and the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) in El Salvador. The concept of war veteranship allows for the exploration of trajectories of former combatants not necessarily, and certainly not exclusively, in terms of reintegration, but rather in relation to the manifold ways in which the status and connections associated with armed group participation may hold currency in the veterans’ lives, and particularly in relation to political processes. The article argues that war veteranship is best understood as a distinct type of post-war citizenship. Integral to the political accommodations that shape post-war societies, war veteranship involves the construction, negotiation and contestation of the societal status of different categories of war veterans. Drawing on the analyses of political struggles of war veterans in RENAMO and FMLN over two decades, this study's findings underscore the longue-durée socio-political relevance of war veteranship, extending above and beyond reintegration efforts.

中文翻译：

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重返社会之外：莫桑比克和萨尔瓦多的退伍军人

本文提出了“退伍军人”的概念，以更好地了解退伍军人在战后社会和国家建设过程中的定位和参与。该研究基于对前叛乱运动的民族志研究，特别是莫桑比克的莫桑比克民族抵抗运动 (RENAMO) 和萨尔瓦多的法拉本多·马蒂民族解放阵线 (FMLN)。退伍军人的概念允许探索前战斗人员的轨迹，不一定，当然也不完全是在重返社会方面，而是在与武装团体参与相关的地位和联系可能在退伍军人的生活，尤其是与政治进程有关的生活。文章认为，最好将退伍军人身份理解为一种独特的战后公民身份。与塑造战后社会的政治融通相结合，退伍军人身份涉及不同类别退伍军人社会地位的构建、谈判和争论。通过对二十年来 RENAMO 和 FMLN 中退伍军人的政治斗争的分析，本研究的结果强调了退伍军人的长期社会政治相关性，超越了重返社会的努力。