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

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Sorority Women’s Perception of Ritual * Ritual was perceived as a ceremony only and did not have an impact outside of the ceremony on some of the participants. * Participants felt that ritual was just one of the activities that they had to participate in as part of the sorority. * Many of the participants indicated that they viewed ritual as a tradition that connected the chapter to the sorority’s beginnings. * Ritual is a ceremony, symbols, creeds, poems, mottoes, traditions, bonds, and friendships that encompass the meaning of sorority for some of the participants. * Some of the participants felt that ritual is not understood or valued as an integral part of the sorority experience. * Several of the participants perceived ritual as standards and thought that they should live their lives according to these standards. Women’s Development Within the Sorority Experience * Development from freshmen to senior year within the sorority was a key element in the participants’ understanding of the ritual ceremony and the sorority experience as a whole. * The participants noted a transition in their behavior and attitudes toward ritual and in their sorority experience as a whole. * Maturity is perceived as an important factor in the participants’ attitude towards and understanding of the ritual ceremonies of the sorority. 122
* The level of responsibility and / or office position held has an impact on the participants’ understanding of the role of the ritual ceremony in their experience and the overall experience of the chapter members. Ritual Ceremony and Behavior * Ritual strictly performed as a ceremony influenced the way the participants perceived the role of ritual. * Participants’ perceptions of the role of ritual on their behavior is based upon their understanding of ritual as more than a ceremony. * Participants who enter the sorority experience with a sense of personal values and beliefs exhibited a greater appreciation for the meaning of the ritual. * Participants who understood the meaning and importance of ritual wanted ritual to be more of an integral part of their sorority experience. * Many of the participants indicated that they had to participate in the ritual ceremonies several times to understand their meaning. Recommendations for Future Research The initial foray into scholarly research on the impact of ritual on the behavior of contemporary sorority women opens the door for future research on this topic. Further research could explore how ritual impacts sorority women all from the same chapter at various stages in their development. Does the age of the sorority chapter affect the impact of ritual on its members? It would be interesting to know whether the sorority women from older chapters, founded seventy years or more, and the sorority women from younger chapters, founded within the last several years, are learning about sorority life differently. Further study could examine the ways that sorority chapter members are educated during their new member education program to 123
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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
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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 and 130: when an 18-year old woman joins a s
Page 131: ehavior of sorority women, it must
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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