Between War and Peace: How Boredom Shapes the Enactment of Idealized Futures in Extreme Contexts

Abstract

To investigate how workers enact idealized futures in extreme contexts, I analyze 63 unsolicited personal diaries of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping officers, as well as interviews, documents, and observational data related to UN peacekeeping missions. My findings reveal how peacekeepers navigate tensions between their idealized aspirations to achieve peace and the often-mundane aspects of their fieldwork. Central to these tensions is the experience of existential boredom, which plays a crucial role in shaping their responses. Peacekeepers respond to existential boredom in two ways. Some embrace boredom and follow a pathway of situational adjustment of their moral values, redefining the meaning of the idealized future, and anchoring the temporal orientation in the present reality. Others renounce boredom and follow a pathway of adherence by clinging to their moral values, maintaining the meaning of the idealized future, and anchoring the temporal orientation in the idealized future. The enactment of either a pragmatic or absolute idealized future, respectively, has important implications for the adoption of new work practices. I contribute to the literatures on futures and boredom by showing how boredom influences the enactment of idealized futures and identifying implications for day-to-day work in extreme contexts.

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