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

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Challenges Faced During the Study The greatest challenges I faced during this research were the recurring questions “why ritual?” and “how are you going to study what, to most, is a secret, very sacred topic?” Early in my career of working with sorority women, I was fascinated with the importance of ritual and its role in the sorority experience. I began to learn from reading, attending conferences, and listening to students and national officers speak of ritual, specifically the importance of the initiation ceremony. Although I am a member of a sorority, my undergraduate experience taught me little about ritual. I knew that we had to conduct a ceremony that brought new members into the sorority. I did not understand the meaning of the ceremony nor did I understand the concept that ritual was a system of values or standards by which I had promised to live my life. I did not make decisions about my life based upon my sorority's ritual -- to me it was a nice ceremony, but that was it. It really had no meaning. I have conducted this research to examine the initiation ceremony and its effect, if any, on in the values and behavior of sorority undergraduate women today. One of the concerns that have evolved is my ability to remain objective and non-biased as it relates to this study. A quote in a chapter called "Outside In, Inside Out" (Minh-Ha, 1991), I think best describes what I believe to be true, especially as it relates to this topic: The 'portraits' of a group produced by the observer as outsider and by the observer as insider will differ, as they will be relevant in different contexts. This underlies the current cry 'you have to be one to understand one' (p. 72). I think that this phrase best describes that it would be very difficult to conduct this study if I had no knowledge of what a sorority ritual ceremony or initiation ceremony entails. I have only 76
participated in my sorority ritual, which in many ways, places me as an outsider looking in. Minh-Ha (1991) gives another description of the insider looking in: The moment the insider steps out from the inside, she is no longer a mere insider (and vice versa). She necessarily looks in from the outside while also looking out from the inside. Like the outsider, she steps back and records what never occurs to her the insider as being worth or in need of recording. But unlike the outsider, she also resorts to nonexplicative, non-totalizing strategies that suspend meaning and resist closure. This is often viewed by the outsiders as strategies of partial concealment and disclosure aimed at preserving secrets that should only be imparted to initiates. (p. 74) Although I do not know the secrets of the other sororities, I do have an understanding of what those rituals entail and their intent as far as the purpose of the ceremonies. Because I am not a member of any of the other sororities included in this study, I have been an outsider who did not and does not know the content of those ceremonies. I feel that this explains my ability to be connected to this topic and yet, has established my ability to be an outsider. I have taken precautions such as having two examiners review the coding the transcripts, selecting the sorority women randomly for the study, as well as conducting interviews on campuses where I am not speaking or presenting in order to ensure non-biased responses. My bias has been my passion for this topic. Under the direction of my major advisor, two examiners, and my dissertation committee, I have taken precautions to evaluate my bias and to be conscience of my bias at all times during this study. Limitations Formal rituals, such as those associated with Greek letter organizations, are often difficult to study. The nature of the organizations and the role of "ritual,” specifically the initiation ceremony in those organizations, often times create a sense of secrecy to the point of not ever mentioning the word "ritual." Rituals or ritual ceremonies are the foundation of what makes each sorority unique. Perhaps the greatest challenge for researchers is the fact that many of the rituals 77
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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
Page 35 and 36: Robson writes further: In a world c
Page 37 and 38: strengthened by encountering differ
Page 39 and 40: student initiated and created to au
Page 41 and 42: Gradually, however, they took over
Page 43 and 44: Following the founding of Kappa Alp
Page 45 and 46: efer to themselves as "service" org
Page 47 and 48: Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity Lombard C
Page 49 and 50: What Is Ritual? In order to explain
Page 51 and 52: theorist/researcher in the area of
Page 53 and 54: Ritual as a Rite of Passage Underst
Page 55 and 56: we are and giving meaning to us wit
Page 57 and 58: am I? Well, as I see it, I am a per
Page 59 and 60: Value Congruence Research conducted
Page 61 and 62: the majority of authors . . . have
Page 63 and 64: To better understand Gilligan’s F
Page 65 and 66: only women, all with varying opinio
Page 67 and 68: member transitions to a leader/role
Page 69 and 70: development. The isolation period a
Page 71 and 72: Gilligan’s point that sex differe
Page 73 and 74: undergraduate members. Understandin
Page 75 and 76: not an option. Actual observance of
Page 77 and 78: 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: These categories were reflective of
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 and 132: ehavior of sorority women, it must
Page 133 and 134: * The level of responsibility and /
Page 135 and 136: to evaluate sorority women and the
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they are and what role ritual has i
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numbers vary from chapter to chapte
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that those ceremonies can bring to
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Butler, E. R. (1990). Initiations r
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Kuh, G. D., & Arnold, J. C. (1992).
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Pennington, D., Zvonkovic, A. C., W
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Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., C Sears
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APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM 141
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APPENDIX B PROFILE QUESTIONS 143
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APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 145
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general? What would you say that th
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APPENDIX D (LETTER TO THE GREEK ADV
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APPENDIX E NATIONAL PANHELLENIC CON
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six months doing literature researc
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common knowledge similarities--the
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Correspondence II To: Shelia Barnes
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I truly appreciate your guidance an
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Application for Exemption from IRB
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VITA Mari Ann Callais was born in 1
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