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Where
Are You Comin' From, Where Are You Goin' To:
Letter Societies Black fraternities and sororities, whether Greek letter societies or not, play a crucial role on the C.S.U.N. campus as they do at other schools. Unlike memberships in most campus organizations, membership in a fraternity or sorority is for life. Once students pass the expected initiation rituals, they are accepted as members of a closed community, a community with its own Face and its own information regarding key community events, events that are not always shared with those outside the letter society. Black Greek letter fraternities (Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Kappa Alpha Psi) and sororities (Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Zeta Phi Beta) compose "one of the most influential networks of black power in this country" (Freeman & Witcher, 1988, p. 146). Indeed, Keith claimed that he joined the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity because it will help him after he graduates: "there's lots of networking, connecting, uh, you know . . . and the friendship is cool, brotherhood and everything." The fraternity organization itself is in the know. C.S.U.N. is also home to a non-traditional Black fraternity and sorority, Da Fellas and Da Leideez, respectively. Chris, a member of Da Fellas, said he was initially skeptical of what fraternities could offer him, but he changed his mind.
He placed himself in shared territory with the ideology of Da Fellas, an ideology that placed Black students in a larger context than campus. Black fraternities and sororities sponsor key community functions, such as the Alpha Phi Alpha fashion show, dances, parties, step shows, and various other fundraisers. While members of the C.S.U.N. Black community are invited to most functions, sometimes only members of particular fraternities and sororities are able to attend for free, or to participate in putting together the event. If there is any question that one's own community might be confused or associated with another seemingly similar community, one can always emphasize the differences between the two groups. In this way, one can contest how one's fraternity or sorority is placed, and ensure that it seems "positive" in contrast with another that does not share territory, socially or ideologically, and sometimes racially. When Keith discussed the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, he illustrated the differences between Black fraternities and White fraternities:
Zowdi stressed the differences between her own African/Egyptian-based sorority, Da Leideez, and Black Greek letter fraternities:
Chris placed his own fraternity, Da Fellas, as one which kept its problems hidden, whereas "some of the other fraternities kind of let their problems get out into the public, and [it] hurt them." He also claimed that Da Fellas has an ideology of peacefulness, as symbolized in the society's letters: D [the peace symbol] F. Emerald placed herself apart from fraternities and sororities and the community ideologies she associated with them.
Emerald seems to associate the Black Greek letter society with separatism, an ideology she claims not to share. Another way in which a fraternity or sorority community can place itself is to restrict non-community members from full participation in events and functions, as mentioned earlier. Restriction from participation is likely to occur when members of different communities share territory, such as race. Physical separation, in these instances, allows communities to control their communal Face, ensuring that outsiders are not confused as insiders. Da Leideez member Zowdi states:
In this example, "closer to home" probably means being Black. Apparently, White Greek letter societies don't bother participating in Black Greek letter functions, and vice versa. According to De Leideez sister Zowdi:
Zowdi claims that the older Black Greek letter societies, founded at the turn of the century, may also exclude more recently established Black Greek fraternities and sororities from participation in extracurricular activities such as step shows. If so, this systematic exclusion demonstrates how historical territory also defines whether one--or the organization s/he belongs to--is an insider. Fraternities and sororities also exclude people from their territory by refusing to accept them as pledges, or by demonstrating disinterest in having them pledge in the first place. Ms. Moore says she felt unwelcome by the AKA sorority she had considered pledging, even though she had a friend associated with the sorority who wanted her to join. A fraternity or sorority's communal Face can represent the community's ideology, so it can be easily placed. Remarked Zowdi:
Da Fellas brother Chris said he chose his fraternity because "it basically came down to what the different fraternities were about, and who could fit my personality and my needs best." Zowdi believes that Black Greek sororities might be "scared" that her own (Da Leideez) sorority has members who look like they might belong to other sororities: "It's not like a conformist group where you look at the AKA's or you look at the Deltas and say, 'They're like this.'" The Da Leideez sorority was only established in 1993, and has a less established reputation than the Black Greek sororities established by 1922 (Freeman & Witcher, 1988, p. 154). Stereotypes, based on a sorority's reputation, are used to place an individual (by Face) as a member of a particular sorority--as an AK (Alpha Kappa Alpha) versus a Delta (Delta Sigma Theta). In this way, members become essentialized in a bounded territory. Since the Da Leideez sorority is so new, members are not easily placed. The Face of individual members does not align with an "established" communal Face, and other sororities may have difficulty defining the borders of their community: who is a member and who is not a member. Zowdi stressed that she and her sorority sisters refused to fit into a stereotype. She resisted containment in a fixed, essentialized territory. The C.S.U.N. Black letter societies have also claimed the
Union as a primary community hangout. According to most informants, the
two areas of the Union where fraternity members tend to "kick it"
are the front entrance and the large TV room just inside the main entrance.
New transfer student Keith said that by the fourth day of classes he knew
he could always go to the Union if he wanted to find fellow fraternity
brothers, even though this gathering place is not restricted to fraternity
and sorority members only.
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Placing and Black Students' Discursive Construction of Community Copyright (c) 1996, Corinna J. Moebius |