Introduction: Qualitative inquiry and global crises

Two glimpses of everyday life in the United States frame the collection of essays that follow: A few days after the calendar page turned forward into 2011, one of us was at our local regional airport awaiting the departure of a friend. To the right, a twenty-something U.S. Army recruit—smartly dressed in fatigues, carrying a small Nike duffel bag, soft baby-faced features betraying his nervous countenance—sat with his stoic, graying father, a solidly built man wearing weathered sneakers, faded blue jeans, a well-worn wind-breaker, and a mesh army cap. For almost 30 minutes, the two sat quietly together, each clearly contemplating the forthcoming farewell and what lay beyond: a potential deployment abroad, possibly to Afghanistan—the fact that the two might never see each other again.