On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging

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 a...

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Main Author:	Smith, Synatra A
Format:	Others
Published:	FIU Digital Commons 2015
Subjects:	black middle-class identity performance black Greek-letter organizations Social and Cultural Anthropology
Online Access:	http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1906 http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2945&context=etd

id	ndltd-fiu.edu-oai-digitalcommons.fiu.edu-etd-2945
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spelling	ndltd-fiu.edu-oai-digitalcommons.fiu.edu-etd-29452018-01-05T15:30:24Z On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging Smith, Synatra A 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 v 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. 2015-03-20T07:00:00Z text application/pdf http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1906 http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2945&context=etd FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations FIU Digital Commons black middle-class identity performance black Greek-letter organizations Social and Cultural Anthropology
collection	NDLTD
format	Others
sources	NDLTD
topic	black middle-class identity performance black Greek-letter organizations Social and Cultural Anthropology
spellingShingle	black middle-class identity performance black Greek-letter organizations Social and Cultural Anthropology Smith, Synatra A On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
description	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 v 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.
author	Smith, Synatra A
author_facet	Smith, Synatra A
author_sort	Smith, Synatra A
title	On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
title_short	On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
title_full	On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
title_fullStr	On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
title_full_unstemmed	On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging
title_sort	on and off the stage at atlanta greek picnic: performances of collective black middle-class identities and the politics of belonging
publisher	FIU Digital Commons
publishDate	2015
url	http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1906 http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2945&context=etd
work_keys_str_mv	AT smithsynatraa onandoffthestageatatlantagreekpicnicperformancesofcollectiveblackmiddleclassidentitiesandthepoliticsofbelonging
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On and Off the Stage at Atlanta Greek Picnic: Performances of Collective Black Middle-Class Identities and the Politics of Belonging

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