Where Are You Comin' From, Where Are You Goin' To:
Placing and Black Students' Discursive Construction of Community

CJM Writings > Thesis Home > Chapter 3: Out of Place (intro) > Placing & Shared Territory > Face > Establishing Face

Establishing Face

Face is often necessary in order to establish membership within a community. When Emerald was a sophomore, for instance:

my face was--no one knew me really, and everybody was at the USU [the University Student Union]. So I know after, before classes and after classes that's where I would go, and I would go there because, it's like I would see everybody I need to see, you know, be "What's up? How you doin'?" you know, kind of "Whaddya doin' this weekend?" Find out where the parties were, and you know it's just, get your face in the crowd, people know you, you get to know people . . .

As a freshman, Jake "found out where people were and [he] sat down and [he] watched them." He discovered that the Square (a popular hangout before the earthquake) was where his former high school friends -- also C.S.U.N. students -- liked to go. "And you know," he added, "I didn't see them too often, but they were like --Hell, they felt like it was cool to kick it out there and I could do it too." He would sit down on one of the benches and eventually students would introduce themselves to him "which was cool," he remarked.

Keith, a recent transfer student and member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, at C.S.U.N. for less than a month, wanted his face to be seen--and recognized--by other Black students who "kicked it" at the Student Union. He explained how familiarity is crucial to acceptance as a community member:

Got to get to know me. Got to know who I am. I gotta feel comfortable knowing who they are. And, um, I guess it just takes time. 'Cause every day I meet somebody else, you know. And, they must get used to seeing my face or I seeing them, who knows . . . Just that acknowledgment 'cause, 'cause when I first got there, I -- it's hard for me to put myself into a community -- is, I got there and I sat down looking around and then nobody know me and I don't know nobody, either. They not saying nothing, and I'm not saying to them. So, I'm there but I'm not. But, now when I'm there, you know, out of the forty people, at least five or six, maybe ten or whatever there, you know. You know what I mean. And all people see me walkin' around there so it's like they see. You know, but, as long as you, I have a few maybe dances or just hanging out with them, you know. I'll be considered, you know.

Keith mentions acknowledgment, being seen, and being considered. It seems that until one's Face is recognized and "seen," one is without a Face at all. Unseen, unheard, a person is not a community member but an outsider. Thanya, also a recent transfer student, explained that she will feel like she belongs in the C.S.U.N. Black community "When I can just walk around here and not worry about anything -- when I recognize faces."

In many cases, persons can alter their Face by changing their hair or clothing style, appearing at particular community gathering places or events, or by adopting kinesic behavior recognized and used by community members--everything from a particular hand shake/slap greeting to a style of walking. First semester freshmen, according to Emerald, do whatever they can to be placed as community members:

[during] your first semester, "Who can I be friends with? Let me see." And then you start joining things, your main focus is not school, or internships, or getting good grades, it's like who can I be friends with, what parties can I go to, well if I wear this short skirt I wonder what guys I'll attract . .

Skin color, however, cannot be changed (or at least rarely), and thus it is often (but not always) easy to place a person according to race.

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CJM Writings > Thesis Home > Chapter 3: Out of Place (intro) > Placing & Shared Territory > Face > Establishing Face

Placing and Black Students' Discursive Construction of Community

Copyright (c) 1996, Corinna J. Moebius