Exceptional (in)security: The vernacular turn and chronic crisis in Sierra Leone

Abstract This article builds upon a growing body of critical security literature that explores the diverse, multiple and scalar experiences of crises and emergencies. While there has been extensive analysis that looks at the conceptualization of these terms and the state and international politics surrounding them, this article focuses on more local experiences and perspectives of what it means for particular events to be exceptional, particularly in places where crisis is context. By employing a vernacular security lens to Sierra Leone, where both authors have done over a decade of fieldwork, this article empirically examines intersections and divergences of experiences in periods generally recognized as extraordinary – namely the civil conflict (1991–2002), the Ebola epidemic (2014–2016) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 onward) – alongside insecurities in everyday life, in order to better understand what comes to constitute the exceptional in particular circumstances and why. By scrutinizing exceptionality in the Sierra Leonean context, where crisis is endemic for most people, we demonstrate how and why there are often disconnects between international and state declarations and examine the reactions and perspectives of local people and what this can tell us about engaging with particular concepts in critical security studies.