Commemoration labour as a mechanism of symbolic violence exercised upon national widows

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the experience of national widows, who are expected by the state to practice commemoration labor. We claim that the state puts pressure on the widows, either openly or covertly, to perform commemoration labor, thereby depriving them of their right to private grief suited to their personality and needs. It is further claimed that the demand on the widows for commemoration labor corresponds closely to the phrase coined by Bourdieu “symbolic violence”. Fifteen national widows whose husbands were killed in military action or by terrorism recounted in-depth interviews their social and emotional experiences in relation to bereavement. We show how these widows are expected to serve the State of Israel in collective ceremonies as commemoration torchbearers. The symbolic violence exercised upon the war widows to play their role in rituals as stipulated by the state is manifested in the system of pressure exerted on them to take part in the reproduction of militaristic Zionist ideology. In response to this symbolic violence, widows employ various covert strategies to simultaneously maintain both the visible public representation of the supremacy of sacrifice and the hidden internal representation of their personal rehabilitation needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Commemoration labour
• national widowhood
• symbolic violence
• glorified bereavement
• grief

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the editors of Mortality and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Smadar Ben-Asher

Dr. Smadar Ben-Asher received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at Ben-Gurion University in 1999 and she is an educational psychologist who specializes in grief and bereavement. She is a senior lecturer at Kaye Academic College. Her research interests include minorities' rights, culturally sensitive counselling and bereavement. She recently published several articles in Journal of Social Work & Human Rights, Papers on Social Representations, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. E-mail:[email protected]

Ya’Arit Bokek-Cohen

Dr. Ya’Arit Bokek-Cohen received her Ph.D. in Sociology at Tel-Aviv University in 2002. Bokek-Cohen specializes in Sociology of the family and studies families and reproductive technologies, mate preferences, family dynamics, spousal influence strategies, and marital power balance. Her current research project focuses on gender and sociological aspects of national widowhood.She recently published several articles in Journal of Social Work & Human Rights; Journal of Gender Studies, Social Compass, American Journal of Bioethics, Women's Studies International Forum, Journal of Family Studies, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. E-mail: [email protected]