Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais

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Some of the participants described ritual as strictly a ceremony and that, outside of the time spent in the actual ceremony, it did not have an impact on their lives. Several of the participants indicated that they felt that the ceremony was boring and had no relevance in their lives and that it was just one part of their sorority experience. More often, however, participants provided indications that the majority of the members in their chapter did not understand the meaning of the ritual ceremony. For those members who don’t understand the meaning of ritual, the ceremonies seemed to be something that was a part of their sorority experience, but was not connected to their life outside of the ceremony. While most participants who referenced ritual as impacting their behavior provided specific reasons for that connection, as detailed in above sections, others acknowledged the impact of ritual but did not connect it to a specific reason. They seemed to realize that the symbolism of the ritual ceremony represented, in some ways, the growth process of “real life,” even if that understanding was at a level of which that were unaware. That is to say that they internalized the symbolism and allowed it to affect their everyday behavior, even if they didn’t understand how the two concepts fit together. It is most interesting that the participants’ answers seemed to fall into three distinct categories regarding the impact of ritual on their behavior. For most of the sorority women, a clear distinction existed. Either they believed that ritual impacted their behavior or they believed that ritual did not impact their behavior. Other participants realized, upon reflection, that the values expressed in the ritual did impact their behavior, they had just never realized it prior to the research questions. Eisenhart’s (1990) idea of acquiring a peer group culture, or “drawing to their own situation, and condensing its meaning for their own use” applies here in that “condensing its meaning for their own use” takes on a significant role in this process. For ritual to impact the 120
ehavior of sorority women, it must first be understood by them. Once the meaning is made clear, ways of incorporating that meaning into their life must be provided. This meaning is not something that is understood by all women simply from participating in the ceremony. The rituals were written during times that were very different than today. In order to maintain connections to that original foundation, sorority women need be taught practical applications of ritual in their lives. The responses from participants indicate that contemporary sorority women are not being taught that ritual is the foundation of their sororities. The underlying foundation of ritual as the purpose of the sorority must be reinforced, strengthened, and taught. Sorority women need to understand that ritual is not just a part of sorority life; rather, all other facets and activities of sorority life stem from ritual. Summary The conclusions drawn from the findings in this study are summarized in this section. The following themes are directly related to and grounded in the research findings. Sorority Women’s Beliefs and Values * For several of the participants, having a sense of their own beliefs and values prior to participating in the sorority in general and then in the ritual ceremonies had an impact on their feelings concerning the ritual ceremonies. * Religious beliefs were perceived as important to a few of the participants’ connectedness to the ritual ceremonies. * Some of the participants described themselves and others as not having a sense of values and beliefs that was connected to the ritual ceremonies in any way. 121
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SORORITY RITUALS: RITES OF PASSAGE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful
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for teaching me that a group of peo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......
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CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, REC
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Each year th
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The member groups of the National P
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hopes of the founders rather than t
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ceremony is complete, that person i
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80,000 women join sororities. On mo
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issues, and topics …that formerly
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when do we use it? How do we use it
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the sorority experience has on the
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The lack of information concerning
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of the NPC member groups, and to co
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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Thi
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Ritual Ceremonies and Symbolism in
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Robson writes further: In a world c
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strengthened by encountering differ
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student initiated and created to au
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Gradually, however, they took over
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Following the founding of Kappa Alp
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efer to themselves as "service" org
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Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity Lombard C
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What Is Ritual? In order to explain
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theorist/researcher in the area of
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Ritual as a Rite of Passage Underst
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we are and giving meaning to us wit
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am I? Well, as I see it, I am a per
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Value Congruence Research conducted
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the majority of authors . . . have
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To better understand Gilligan’s F
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only women, all with varying opinio
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member transitions to a leader/role
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development. The isolation period a
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Gilligan’s point that sex differe
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undergraduate members. Understandin
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not an option. Actual observance of
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Role of the NPC Research Committee
Page 79 and 80: the chapters were part of large nat
Page 81 and 82: where I was able to travel based up
Page 83 and 84: a whole. I piloted the interview qu
Page 85 and 86: These categories were reflective of
Page 87 and 88: participated in my sorority ritual,
Page 89 and 90: sorority women was a cognitive asse
Page 91 and 92: In addition, only one participant w
Page 93 and 94: school. Sixteen (31%) sophomore par
Page 95 and 96: itual among themselves outside of t
Page 97 and 98: was founded in 1978. Their average
Page 99 and 100: chapters ranging in size from 150 t
Page 101 and 102: participants’ feelings about the
Page 103 and 104: A few of the participants expressed
Page 105 and 106: Several of the participants related
Page 107 and 108: One of the participants explained w
Page 109 and 110: During new member education, you le
Page 111 and 112: Women’s Development within the So
Page 113 and 114: Comments from several of the partic
Page 115 and 116: When I first joined my sorority, I
Page 117 and 118: the participants referred to other
Page 119 and 120: I think that ritual has made me a b
Page 121 and 122: The reasons that the participants g
Page 123 and 124: This study included both private an
Page 125 and 126: internal value system or they know
Page 127 and 128: sorority women’s length of member
Page 129: when an 18-year old woman joins a s
Page 133 and 134: * The level of responsibility and /
Page 135 and 136: to evaluate sorority women and the
Page 137 and 138: they are and what role ritual has i
Page 139 and 140: numbers vary from chapter to chapte
Page 141 and 142: that those ceremonies can bring to
Page 143 and 144: Butler, E. R. (1990). Initiations r
Page 145 and 146: Kuh, G. D., & Arnold, J. C. (1992).
Page 147 and 148: Pennington, D., Zvonkovic, A. C., W
Page 149 and 150: Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., C Sears
Page 151 and 152: APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM 141
Page 153 and 154: APPENDIX B PROFILE QUESTIONS 143
Page 155 and 156: APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 145
Page 157 and 158: general? What would you say that th
Page 159 and 160: APPENDIX D (LETTER TO THE GREEK ADV
Page 161 and 162: APPENDIX E NATIONAL PANHELLENIC CON
Page 163 and 164: six months doing literature researc
Page 165 and 166: common knowledge similarities--the
Page 167 and 168: Correspondence II To: Shelia Barnes
Page 169 and 170: I truly appreciate your guidance an
Page 171 and 172: Application for Exemption from IRB
Page 173 and 174: VITA Mari Ann Callais was born in 1
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