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Edward C. Queair, Ph.D. is a 2018 graduate of the PHD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Dr. Queair at his Dissertation Defense.

L-R: Dr. Edward Queair, Dr. Al Guskin, attending virtually on monitor, Committee Member, Dr. Elizabeth Holloway, Committee Chair.

Dissertation Committee

  • Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D., Committee Chair
  • Al Guskin, Ph.D., Committee Member

  • Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, PhD, EdD, Committee Member

Keywords

Brats, Overseas Brats, Military Children, Narrative Inquiry, Positive Identity, Story Research

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

This study is a narrative exploration of the experiences of individuals who grew up within a globally mobile community, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense. It seeks to surface, through their stories, any benefits of childhood that may have contributed meaningfully to their lives. Affectionately known as Brats (a group to which I proudly self-identify), we are the children of those who serve or are serving in the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, Brats are apt to be viewed from a position of sympathy; often identified by any number of negative characteristics presumed to result from their distinct childhoods. From a purposeful sampling effort highlighting some of the more typical features of Brathood (e.g., high mobility, living in foreign countries, frequent parent absence), ten Brats became participants in a journey using the Qualitative Research methodology of Narrative Inquiry. Their stories, although not generalizable, provide windows on an unfamiliar landscape; they unfold remarkable childhoods that suggest a more complex, rewarding lifestyle than stereotypically negative characterizations. This dissertation appeals to the art of story to advance a more positive identity of Brats, but not by negating any detrimental affect or effects of its noted features. Rather, it offers diversity and depth to a once-limited palette in order to provide a more complex, narrative counterpoint. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Comments

Edward C. Queair, Ph.D.

ORCID Scholar ID #: 0000-0001-9974-3020

Ed is the son of a career servicemember of the United States Armed Forces and proudly identifies as a "Brat." His childhood provided him the privilege of living in many overseas countries, instilling in him a natural curiosity for the people and diverse cultures that bind our common humanity. Having been empowered by theatre at an early age, Ed has been engaged in the world of the performing arts—if not by trade then by inclination—and finds his best self reflected in his creative pursuits, primarily his work as a writer. Antioch University has awarded Ed a Master's Degree in Organizational Management and a Ph.D. in Leadership & Change, all together an academic journey that has been highly influential in encouraging and channeling that robust curiosity into meaningful connections with people and organizations.

Ed believes that his highly mobile childhood, his Brathood, cultivated in him a level of resiliency that has made him comfortable with the stereotypical aspects generally associated with change. This has helped him support ideas on positive change and the primary need to understand complexities that emerge when we surface the context of everyday individual experience.

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