To be greek.. or not to be.

The past two weeks we as a class have been introduced to the world of culture studies, along with many terms and ideas that had once seemed fairly simple and now seem never ending.

One culture that I myself am apart of is the Greek community here on campus at the U of M. I decided to use "Greek letters" as a cultural object or symbol in order to effectively explain my understanding of these ideas and terms. I also found this object highly appropriate due to the fact that the past two weeks have been going through recruitment which is for woman who are and want to be Greek at Minnesota. Recruitment or "Rush", for those who have been introduced to greek society previously, is known as one of the biggest weeks of the year for this culture.

As a sorority woman, and a member Alpha Phi International, I have slowly learned and come to the understanding of what the different letters in this greek community mean and represent, not only the literal denotation but all of the associations that go along with it. The traditions, signs, and stereotypes that are attached with houses/chapters on campus is something that once seemed worlds away and foreign, is now apart of my identity and my belief system.

Before I decided to go through recruitment the only things I truly knew and thought about the Greek system were; a lot of girls did it (including my mom who loved it), if you were in it you automatically got to know boys in frats that threw good parties, and finally it looks pretty good on a resume if you got involved in whatever house you joined. These were all things that were apart of my Representation of being in the Greek society. Whenever I saw someone who those letters on their sweatshirt, I automatically connected it to these perceptions I had. Before becoming a member in that culture every letter no matter what it meant was a Signifier that automatically made me think of the movies, shows and stories I heard about this unknown society. I attached the actual greek letters to my understanding of what being in a Sorority or Fraternity meant without having any actual knowledge on the true meaning.

When I went through recruitment as a freshman I began to learn and gain more incite on what it meant to actually be a member of a sorority. The Social Construction of the Greek society began to become unveiled as I learned different conventions of this culture that I wanted so badly to be apart of. I started to understand the unique qualities of the different houses held on campus and why there were so many. I learned the real meaning of the foreign letters and I started to form new ideas and representations of the letters while beginning to connect them to houses and my view of them. I also gained insight to what the whole Greek system entailed such as sisterhood, academics, social functions, philanthropy and leadership which are all terms that were produced and given definition to me by Sorority woman while going through “Rush”. Finally becoming a member of a Chapter (ie, sorority house, Alpha Phi) that fit me was the final step into entering this new culture and discovering even more regulations like what can be on my facebook profile to what day of the week is mandatory for meeting at the house for “chapter”.

I look at this picture of my pledge class (above), and have a new perspective of what these letters mean and represent. I am a sophomore and am considered an old member now that we have recruited new girls to join our house. As I write this I still forget to realize that terms like “pledge class” or “chapter” are and could be completely unfamiliar to someone who has never thought about, heard or learned of the Greek system before. Alpha (the A) and Phi (the opposite of a pi symbol) hold a special meaning to me and always will. It’s something I connect myself to and looking or seeing these letters represent my values of who I am and want to be, memories with my “sisters”, and finally my college experience as a whole. Other Greek letters that aren’t A and PHI have become different than that were before I was in the Greek system or going through recruitment. They now are associated to competition in some ways or friends and links in others. I have a connection to anyone in the Greek system because Alpha Phi is a subculture within one big culture but it’s also competition when it comes to recruitment season and we all want to be #1 on campus.

Overall, the association with Greek letters and their meaning can represent so many different things just as we saw “walk” and “stop” does and every cultural object for that matter. The author or audience being a Greek person or not; on the inside or the outside of this society, as well as the cultural associations that go along with this example show us how to dissect these meanings and take a step further into the beginning of cultural studies.