On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances Of
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-20-2015 On and Off the tS age at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging Synatra A. Smith Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI15032125 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Synatra A., "On and Off the tS age at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging" (2015). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1906. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1906 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida ON AND OFF THE STAGE AT ATLANTA GREEK PICNIC: PERFORMANCES OF COLLECTIVE BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS IDENTITIES AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by Synatra A. Smith 2015 To: Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Synatra A. Smith, and entitled On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Vrushali Patil _______________________________________ Andrea Queeley _______________________________________ Alexandra Cornelius _______________________________________ Jean Muteba Rahier, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 20, 2015 The dissertation of Synatra A. Smith is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2015 ii © Copyright 2015 by Synatra A. Smith All rights reserved. iii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ON AND OFF THE STAGE AT ATLANTA GREEK PICNIC: PERFORMANCES OF COLLECTIVE BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS IDENTITIES AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING by Synatra A. Smith Florida International University, 2015 Miami, Florida Professor Jean Muteba Rahier, Major Professor This dissertation presents a thick ethnography that engages in the micro-analysis of the situationality of black middle-class collective identification processes through an examination of performances by members of the nine historically black sororities and fraternities at Atlanta Greek Picnic, an annual festival that occurs at the beginning of June in Atlanta, Georgia. It mainly attracts undergraduate and graduate members of these university-based organizations, as they exist all over the United States. This exploration of black Greek-letter organization (BGLO) performances uncovers processes through which young black middle-class individuals attempt to combine two universes that are at first glance in complete opposition to each other: the domain of the traditional black middle-class values with representations and fashions stemming from black popular culture. These constructions also attempt to incorporate—in a contradiction of sorts— black popular cultural elements in the objective to deconstruct the social conservatism that characterizes middle-class values, particularly in relation to sexuality and its representation in social behaviors and performances. This negotiation between prescribed iv middle-class values of respectability and black popular culture provides a space wherein black individuals challenge and/or perpetuate those dominant tropes through identity performances that feed into the formation of black sexual politics, which I examine through a variety of BGLO staged and non-staged performances. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1. THEORIZING IDENTIFICATION PROCESSES AND IDENTITY POLITICS ............................. 2 2. COLLABORATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY OF PERFORMANCE ................................................. 10 2.1 Reflexive Methodology ...................................................................................... 13 3. DIGITAL MEDIA DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 23 4. OVERVIEW OF DISSERTATION .................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS AND THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL STATUS ORGANIZATIONS ................................... 31 1. THE EMERGENCE OF THE EARLY BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS .......................................... 32 1.1 Black College Students and the Foundation of Black Fraternalism ................... 38 1.2 Introducing the Elite Eight and Other Black Greek-Letter Organizations ......... 41 1.3 Continued Greek-Letter Organization Formation ............................................... 46 2. CIVIL RIGHTS, BLACK POWER, AND CURRENT BLACK POLITICAL AND FRATERNAL TRANSFORMATIONS .................................................................................................... 47 3. BLACK GREEK-LETTER ORGANIZATIONS AS A SITE OF STRATEGIC CONTESTATION .. 59 4. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 61 CHAPTER 2: ATLANTA GREEK PICNIC AS A QUASI-DIASPORIC BLACK GREEK SPACE ................................................................................................................ 63 1. ATLANTA GREEK PICNIC: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5 THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2013 ... 65 1.1 Wednesday Evening, June 4, 2013 ..................................................................... 65 1.2 Thursday Night, June 6, 2013 ............................................................................. 67 1.3 Friday, June 6, 2013 ............................................................................................ 69 1.4 Saturday, June 7, 2013 ........................................................................................ 87 1.5 Sunday, June 8, 2013 .......................................................................................... 98 2. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 99 CHAPTER 3: BLACK IDENTITY SCRIPTING PROCESSES ................................... 101 1. PRESENTATIONS OF HEGEMONIC BLACK MASCULINITY .......................................... 102 1.1 Black Masculine Eroticism and Performative Phallic Symbols ....................... 111 1.2 Homophobia and Sorority Tributes as Cross-Gender Performances ................ 118 2. MANIFESTATIONS OF BLACK FEMININE SEXUAL SCRIPTS ........................................ 126 2.1 Hyperfeminine Sexual Entrepreneur ................................................................. 137 3. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 144 CHAPTER 4: BLACK GREEK SYMBOLS, MIDDLE-CLASS RESPECTABILITY, AND MATERIAL CULTURE .................................................... 146 1. EMBODYING AND INSCRIBING BLACK GREEK IDENTITY TROPES ............................. 150 2. COMMODIFICATION AND CONSUMPTION OF PARAPHERNALIA ................................. 160 3. THE PERFORMATIVE NETWORK SPATIALITIES OF THE CANE GANG ......................... 164 4. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 171 vi CHAPTER 5: REFLECTIONS ON THE IMPACT OF DIVERSITY AND COLOR-BLINDNESS IN BLACK SPACES ................................................................ 174 1. MULTICULTURAL MEMBERSHIP IN BLACK GREEK-LETTER ORGANIZATIONS .......... 178 2. PROBLEMATIZING COLOR-BLIND IDEOLOGY IN RELATION TO HIP HOP GENERATION IDENTITIES .......................................................................................... 184 3. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 198 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 200 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 205 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 244 vii GLOSSARY AKA Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ) Sorority, Inc. Alpha Member of Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) Fraternity, Inc. BGLO Black Greek-letter organization Call Each organization has a call that carries significance to the members. Calls are either a call and response or a word. Delta Member of Delta Sigma Theta (ΔΣΘ) Sorority, Inc. Diss Something that disrespects or teases another organization. Divine Nine The National Pan-Hellenic Council originally consisted of the four sororities and four fraternities that were founded prior to its organization in 1930 who became known colloquially as the Elite