Second Funerals: The Case of the Hero as an Element of Analysis

Abstract

I analyzed the formal and administrative processes involved in the exhumation, transfer, and burial of the Tucumán hero Bernardo de Monteagudo in the Western Cemetery of San Miguel de Tucumán. Returning to this topic, this essay seeks to address the issue of double funerals and their implications for both the deceased and their relatives. To this end, I draw on various concepts proposed by [1-6] among others. I offer a brief theoretical discussion of the implications of successive exhumations and burials in the context of this historical figure, as well as their consequences for the body itself. That is, I examine how these double funerals (in this case, multiple funerals) may imply several deaths before reaching a “definitive” one, and what this process may also entail with respect to mourning for the dead.