Loraux, Funeral Orations, and Military Funerals

In her book, Mothers in Mourning, Nicole Loraux theorized--and successfully so--that the separation from mourning (threnos) from funeral orations (epitaphios logos) in Athenian funeral ceremonies constituted the gendered invention of the political through the exclusion of women and the oppositional definition of the public (polis) and the private (oikos).

Bringing her study of Athenian funeral rituals and the gendered nature of the public sphere and nationalism to the present day, we have contemporary American military funerals as a case study.  The tradition at such occasions consists of a funeral oration followed by the ceremonial folding of the American flag and its presentation to the mother or wife of the fallen soldier.  What is particularly striking and what makes Loraux's work so relevant in this case study is the presentation of the flag--the symbol of the nation--to the mother.  Essentially, the sacrifice (the death of the soldier, the contribution to the nation) as symbolized by the flag becomes the mother's to bear.