Unofficial Memorial Rites in an Army Unit

Rubin, Nissan

doi:10.1093/sf/63.3.795

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Research shows that the warm and close relationship between us and the army unit that hosts the memorial ceremonies is not unique. For example, Nissan Rubin's (1985) research has showed that military funerals promote ties between army units and civilians. 3.…”

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaffiliating From the Cult of the Fallen

Lavie-Ajayi

2017

Qualitative Inquiry

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This article is an autoethnographic exploration of how my family lives with the memory of my uncle, who was killed in service as an enlisted soldier of the Israeli Defense Force during the Yom Kippur War (also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War). This article considers how the memory of my uncle has been constructed through the yearly national cycle of military and family ceremonies. Participation in military ceremonies of this nature is a way for my family to deal with the intolerable pain of my uncle’s death. Yet, I argue, this yearly cycle of commemoration is part of “the cult of the fallen” at the heart of contemporary Israeli society; a cult which places the death of my uncle as part of the narrative of inevitable, ongoing national conflict, connecting the past and the present and justifying further militarism in the future.

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Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaffiliating From the Cult of the Fallen

Lavie-Ajayi

2017

Qualitative Inquiry

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“…For instance, while Gilam Tamir (1993) has analyzed the adjustment of bereaved parents, and Eliezer Witztum and Ruth Malkinson (1993) have constructed a psychological model of bereavement and commemoration, both studies tend to concentrate almost exclusively on the private sphere, on families. Nissan Rubin (1985) has investigated military funerals as part of the informal memorialization in IDF units rather than the interactions between families and the Israeli military. Finally, the study closest to ours, Lea Shamgar- Handelman's (1986) work on the relations between the Ministry of Defense and war widows, focuses on the long-term aspects of such relations.…”

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confidence: 99%

“A Knock on the Door”: Managing Death in the Israeli Defense Forces

Vinitzky‐Seroussi

Ben‐Ari

2000

The Sociological Quarterly

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This paper discusses death that occurs within organizations through an analysis of how deaths of soldiers are handled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). While such deaths challenge the military's organizational order and legitimacy, the IDF handles them through the institution of a "moving bureaucracy": a combination of fixed administrative procedures and intense emotional work carried out by liminal military personnel (reserve officers). This arrangement enables the military to construct a highly controlled "buffer zone" around the deceased soldier's family, and thus to reconstitute its organizational order and the IDF legitimacy. The army as a palpable organization "reappears" on the scene, but that reappearance is gradual and takes place only after the funeral, when death is certain and finalized. For many Israeli Jews, "a knock on the door" represents the worst nightmare imaginable. Behind the "knock on the door" stands the army in the form of the announcement of a soldier's death. Family members who open the door face the certitude of the fact that their son, husband, father, or brother has died.' This is a moment people remember for the rest of their lives, a moment endlessly replayed in their minds. This article analyzes the processes by which soldiers' deaths are handled by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Specifically, we focus on the interactions between representatives of the Israeli military and family members of the dead soldiers during the first week after the death. These activities include announcing death, preparing the funeral, burying the body in a military cemetery, and accompanying the family during the first seven days of ritual bereavement.Our argument proceeds along the following lines. While the military regularly copes with the demise of its members, such deaths are unexpected and sudden from an individual (or familial) point of view. As a consequence, such deaths are potentially chaotic, possibly disturbing the military's organizational order and challenging the very bases of its legitimacy. What enables the army to reconstitute its organizational order and reestablish its legitimacy are the workings of a specialized administrative structure that may be termed a "moving bureaucracy." This bureaucracy includes a unique combination of administrative arrangements and distinct functionaries who are reserve officers, that is, people who are both military personnel and civilians. The standardized set of procedures

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Transformations in San Diego County Gravestones and Cemeteries

Mallios

Caterino

2007

Hist Arch

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Unofficial Memorial Rites in an Army Unit

Cited by 6 publications

References 7 publications

Disaffiliating From the Cult of the Fallen

Disaffiliating From the Cult of the Fallen

“A Knock on the Door”: Managing Death in the Israeli Defense Forces

Transformations in San Diego County Gravestones and Cemeteries

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