Full Description
An interdisciplinary look Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), the first historically Black sorority.
Black Greek-letter organizations offer many African Americans opportunities for activism, community-building, fostering cultural pride, and cultural work within the African American community. Disciplining Women focuses on the oldest Black Greek-letter sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, established in 1908. In this innovative interdisciplinary analysis of AKA, Deborah Whaley combines ethnographic field work, archival research, oral history, and interpretive readings of popular culture and sorority rituals to examine the role of the Black sorority in women's everyday lives and more broadly within public life and politics. The study includes sorority members' stories of key cultural practices and rituals, including political participation, step dancing, pledging, hazing, and community organizing. While she remains critical of the shortcomings that plague many Black social organizations with activist programs, Whaley shows how AKA's calculated cultivation of sorority life demonstrates personal and group-directed discipline and illuminates how cultural practices intersect with politics and Black public life.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Stomp the Yard, School Daze, and the Cultural Politics of Black Greek-Letter Organizations
2. Alpha Kappa Alpha, Black Counterpublics, and the Ambiguity of Social Reform
3. Stepping into the African Diaspora: Alpha Kappa Alpha and the Production of Sexuality and Femininity in Sorority Step Performance
4. Disciplining Women, Respectable Pledges, and the Meaning of a Soror: Alpha Kappa Alpha and the Transformation of the Pledge Process
5. Voices of Collectivity/Agents of Change: Alpha Kappa Alpha and the Future of Black Counterpublics
Conclusion: Sorority Sisters
Appendix: Alpha Kappa Alpha Fact Sheet
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
