Assignment WA3: Research Proposal
My ethnographic study is based on a specific denomination of the Greek community on the Texas A&M University – Commerce campus; the Alpha Phi women’s fraternity. It is an organization of which I am in the process of becoming a member, and it involves a large portion of my life as a college student. Though I don’t know much yet about Greek life in general, I am looking forward to discovering what being in a sorority is all about and learning a lot from my sisters and what they do. Throughout this process, I will observe and record certain activities hosted by my chapter, as well as everyday life within the Alpha Phi house on the campus itself. I will be careful not to “step on anyone’s toes” so to speak, and put my field notes away when it comes to private practices and secret ceremonies. I hope to become more engaged with the other members and more involved in my sorority as a whole by learning and growing with the help of my study techniques this semester.
Some examples of activities I will observe include our new member Spaghetti Dinner, the process of initiation (I will become an active member in November), and our philanthropic events occurring the week after Initiation. I also plan to interview several of our members, particularly the ones in my pledge class, to gain more knowledge on the process of recruitment and the motives behind rushing a sorority. I am curious to discover whether the driving forces are relatively similar or vastly different between the new girls. Our pledge class doubled in size after informal recruitment as well, so I wonder just how diverse we are as a group mentally, physically, and socially. How do these diversities relate to our motives for rushing Alpha Phi this semester? How do our various experiences with the recruitment stage affect our overall involvement in and connection with our sorority? These inquiries will help me to develop some thoughtful and prompting questions to include within my interview scripts. I will get permission to conduct these interviews and my studies in general from the president of our chapter as well as the new member educator. I also plan on issuing forms of consent to each of the girls I will interview to formalize the process and prevent misunderstandings. I will respect the privacy of the organization and the individuals within it by acquiring their permission to observe and record their activities, and refrain from publishing any information that would be considered private or personal. I do not believe it will be difficult to obtain the signatures I require because I have built a rapport with these girls and they know they can trust me with the information I gather. I might also go the extra step to allow the chapter president to proof-read my work before I turn it in to check for any potentially controversial statements or confidential material. This will assure the girls of my good intentions and desire for cooperation.
There is much that I have to be wary of when it comes to making information public. Many of the traditions and practices within our sorority are secretive and meant to be shared only among the members. There is still a lot I am not allowed to know as a new member who has not yet been initiated. We normally do not get to know the theme of our new member events, either, but this process is meant to strengthen the bonds between the pledges and help us to gain a sense of sisterhood. We all have a ‘big sister’ and a ‘guardian angel’ as well, but the identity of these individuals eludes us. We are not allowed to participate in certain events meant only for active members, as they discuss private matters. Obviously, once I am allowed to attend such meetings, I will not divulge the information presented as it is meant to be kept hidden from the public. Again, I must first and foremost respect the privacy of my sisters and my sorority, not only because I am a member of the organization but also because it is a proper, moral practice of an educated researcher. This is why I will also ask each member I interview if they prefer that I use an alias when referring to them within my project, or if they don’t mind disclosing their own identity.
I think the fact that I am coming into this community with few preconceived notions or personal opinions will serve to benefit my project as a whole. We have been taught that when field-working, it is best to enter the community from a neutral standpoint and to be able to see things from both the eyes of an outsider and the perspective of an insider. I think I am in a perfect position to do just that by being a new member in Alpha Phi. I am an outsider, with no notion of what a sorority is all about, who decided to pledge this semester. I am also an insider, one who is invited to most member-only events and activities and who, once initiated, will be informed of all the secret symbols, traditions, and meanings behind the scenes at Alpha Phi. I bring no bias to the table, but plenty of respect for the culture which I have chosen to study. I am excited to continue my field-working and dig even deeper to discover what it takes to identify with an Alpha Phi.
An ethnography is a “study of people in cultures; also the text that is written based on that study.” Therefore every culture has something to contribute to the larger scholarly conversation in literacy studies. Literacy appears everywhere within my sorority; in the Greek letters and symbols which stand for Alpha Phi, within each member and their methods of communicating with one another, and in the history of the house and past alum. There is much to be learned by studying this particular culture, and I am eager to begin my in-depth study. It is a unique aspect of the Commerce community which is normally overlooked when topics of literacy and research come into discussion. It extends far beyond the TAMU – C campus and surrounding community, however, and can be linked with similar sites throughout the nation. This is yet another important factor as to why this particular Greek culture will produce an informed and creative ethnographic study contributing to the wider scholarly conversation on literacy.
The most difficult part of this project might occur during our final presentations or when writing about our findings. I must be very careful not to expose any privacies of the Alpha Phi culture. But that is a big part of what makes this project so educational; how much can we learn to accept and identify with a specific culture even if we cannot know all there is to know about it? That in itself will be a fascinating discovery.
