Lecturer's research on end-of-war communication receives top award
Rebecca Oliver, a communication lecturer in Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts, received the top student paper award from the National Communication Association's Communication and Military Division at its 2024 conference.
Oliver's paper, "We Failed Them: Moral Injury Among U.S. Veterans During the Afghanistan Withdrawal," examines how veterans responded to policies that did not grant Afghan interpreters special immigrant visa status.
"I am honored and humbled to have received this award," Oliver said. "Hopefully this research extends scholarship about the rhetoric of war to consider overlooked peoples and experiences."
Oliver argues that during the War on Terror, U.S. troops formed close bonds with Afghan interpreters as allies, friends and mutual protectors. At the end of the war, when these interpreters did not receive the promised special immigrant visa status, veterans suffered a "moral injury."
The paper argues that this moral injury stems from veterans' lack of closure and unity with their allies after the war ended.
"This research is important to me because it brings attention to the experiences of U.S. military members after they return home and the experiences of the Afghan people," Oliver said. "Research on the rhetoric of war has traditionally focused on the declarations of wars, not endings. However, the way we talk about war from its declaration to beyond its end influences our real human condition."
Learn more about the Department of Communication and Journalism.
Tags: Communication and Journalism Faculty Research
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