Alex Douglas

English 308J

Matt Vetter

June 2, 2012

Goose Got You on the Down Low.

An Enthographic Study of Acacia International Fraternity

It is a beautiful spring day on the Ohio University Campus. The air warmly wafts the promise of renewal as birds chirp and squirrels scamper on the uneven pavement. A young man with a backpack slung over his shoulder passes by an older student engrossed in conversation with a pretty girl. He pauses for a moment and then calls out “Dodi!“ The older student looks up, smiles, these two fraternity brothers are part of a bigger community. The community of discourse.

The concept of a discourse community has been created and subsequently altered, added upon and ultimately improved by many authors within the field. The complexity of a discourse community was best described by John Swales, who was one of the first writers to shape the concept and brought it to the attention of other prominent writers. Swales argues in his article, The Concept Of Discourse Community, that we need to clarify and offer a set of criteria for discourse communities, narrow enough to eliminate many of the supposed discourse communities (Swales). Swales believes that by having strong characteristics and a rigid definition of discourse communities, we will be able to understand and identify discourse communities with more accuracy. He then proposes six overarching characteristics that are necessary for determining if a discourse community has been formed.

The first characteristic he identifies is that a discourse community has a group of common goals that each member of the community abides by and adheres to. His second is the idea that a community must have a way of communicating between its members. This can be a very broad category as just about any mode of communication that members use can fill this criterion. Not only must the members be able to communicate, but they must also exchange information. This brings us to Swales third characteristic, a discourse community provides feedback and information. His fourth characteristic is that a discourse community possess one or more genres. This criterion refers to the fact that discourse communities are always changing and incorporating elements form other groups. For his fifth characteristic, Swales argues that a discourse community must have developed lexis that are unique and shared between members in a community. This sixth and final characteristic is that the community must keep a balance between new members and old, as not to lose any relevant aspect of their community.

I believe that Swales has provided us with a great platform which other writers can use to further expand on the concept of discourse communities. James Paul Gee is one such author. In “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics,” Gee creates the idea that “Discourses” are more than a literary group. He asserts that a “Discourse is a sort of 'identity kit; which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize”,(Gee 484). This is an aspect I had yet to think of, and as I look deeper into discourse communities, I have seen that the linguistic aspect is only a fraction of the attributes necessary to belong to a discourse community.

I believe that one person, who even though she didn't specifically write on discourse communities, can still be integrated in to the discussion, is Deborah Brandt. Brandt, who wrote on the aspect of sponsorship in regards to literacy in her article, “Sponsors of Literacy”, focuses on the assistance we receive from older, wiser, more experienced members of a community. I believe that her aspect of sponsorship can be directly tied to Swales' notion of keeping a reasonable ratio between novices and experts (Swales 473). Brandt is arguing that a sponsor teaches us and guides us on a path to higher knowledge and understanding, just as you would follow in someone’s footsteps when you are initiated into a discourse community.

Acacia International Fraternity

Fraternities and Sororities are two organizations that have a large impact on the life of its members and community as a whole. These organizations strive to better its members by instilling them with values and lessons that they can apply to their general lives. When I arrived at Ohio University I joined the Acacia International Fraternity. I visited many Fraternities when first arrived at OU and I was surprised how tight knit each organization was. My fraternity in particular excelled at building bonds between its members. Once a person has decided that they want to join the fraternity, they must get approval from all the members, as we will not permit any element of discord to enter our ranks. The “Pledge” then enters his eight week pledging process in which he will be molded and eventually conform to the norms of the community. The Pledge will be allotting time that could be spent elsewhere, to furthering, not only their social pursuits, but academic as well. Another aspect of fraternity life is having a “Big”. A Big is a person that chooses you to be their apprentice. They will help shape you into a member of the community.

After I learned about the concepts of discourse communities, I soon realized that this community was built on a few simple ideals that mirror and ultimately conform to Swales' Six Characteristics of a Discourse Community. Each fraternity has its own founding set of rules and goals that the members abide by. They include guidelines about how to conduct you in many varying situations including business, formal, social settings in general. Even though members have different focuses, we all have the common objective of bettering ourselves and our community. Acacia also uses many forms of intercommunication to make sure members can discuss important events and issues. In addition to having formal message boards, Acacia utilizes a variety of participatory mechanisms, including but not limited to, text messaging, email, posters, and weekly Chapter meetings. These methods are not just to talk about miscellaneous items. Each message that is exchanged is an opportunity to further the goals of our community. Acacia has also acquired specific lexis that others outside the community may not understand or take the wrong way. Because of the large geographic area its members hail from, each person brings with them words and phrases that can be integrated into the discourse community, though only if the members support the assimilation. The final aspect that binds Acacia as a discourse community is the fact that they are a selective group and will only allow a determined number of new initiates to join each quarter.

Methods

In order to get an in depth look at Greek life I first chose to interview members of a fraternity. Both interviews took place in the fraternity house. I felt that by interviewing them in their fraternity house, it would help them remember and draw back on experiences that they had undergone. I believed that this approach would give me the best results. I decided to ask them questions that would allow me to gain data to determine if Greek life is in fact a Discourse Community. However, I also wanted to determine how authority is delegated and relinquished within the community and ultimately discuss the relationship between experts and novices. In order to accomplish this, I decided to interview two members, one older and one younger, to observe how they viewed each other. For the young fraternity member, I chose to interview a new member who had just gone active in the fraternity to gain insight into how he perceived his role in the hierarchy of the fraternity. I met with Scott Lore a recent initiate into Acacia and his Pledge class president. I believed that due to his high position within his Pledge class and his low position within the rest of the fraternity, he could offer a unique perspective. I met with him the previous week and I asked him questions relating to Swales' six characteristics to determine if Acacia is a discourse community. In addition I also asked questions regarding how he views authority and seniority within the group. I wanted to see if he regarded himself and the new members with the same rights and equality as he did the older members. I also took the time to interview Michael Cerri, who will be hereunto being referred to as “Goose”, a 5^th year active in the fraternity. Goose has been a driving force within Acacia; he has served on our Executive board for 4 years and has held numerous positions of authority, including Risk Manager, Pledge Educator and Rush Chair. His positions as Pledge Educator and Rush Chair put him down in the trenches with our new and incoming members giving him a closer look at the inexperienced members of Acacia. I was intrigued to find if he truly respected and acknowledged the views and opinions of the newer and younger members.

After I had gathered all my data from my interviews, I determined that as one of the most senior members, I should also look to my own experiences and observations in dealing with the struggle of respecting the younger and inexperienced members

Results

In Ann M. Johns' “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity,” she continues the work of John Swales by examining the role of conflict within discourse communities. She expands on the areas of the cost of affiliation, conflict, and issues of authority. Johns argues that, in an academic discourse community:

[Students] may have to make considerable sacrifices. To become active academic participants, they sometimes must make major trade-offs that: can create personal and social distance between them and their families and communities. Students are asked to modify their language … [and] they often must drop... their affiliations to their home cultures in order to take on the values, language, and genres of their disciplinary culture. (Johns 511)

Whenever you become affiliated with a discourse community there are drawbacks. These can range from the tangible such as financial obligations to the abstract such as changing beliefs. She also brings to light the idea that conflict within a group can be attributed to a need for power and identity.

Going back to Brandt's concept of sponsorship, we can see that she believes that having a sponsor is a very meaningful and substantial part of gaining literacy. She puts a focus on the idea that sponsorship can create a stronger link to learning and access (Brandt 336).

In my interview with Scott I asked him questions regarding Johns' and Brandt's theories. I first asked what kind of sacrifices he had to make in order to become a part of Acacia. Scott attributes many sacrifices he has had to make this year to his initiation and membership in Acacia, though he believes they are worth it. He argues that even though he had to give up some of his free time and pay membership dues, the affiliation with our community is worth any price. I then asked him to elaborate about his role as a leader to his Pledges and as a subordinate to the Actives. He offers the opinion that by being simultaneously a leader and a follower, he has had to deal with conflict on both ends of the spectrum. He talks about times he has had members of his Pledge class resist some of his directives causing friction with his subordinates, and he has also disagreed with the decisions of the Actives, putting him in the middle of the argument. When I asked him how his Big acted as a sponsor in his furtherance to becoming a member. He believes that having someone who is there for you and wants the best for you in your undertakings is essential to the process of becoming a member. He talked about how he stared emulating his Big's lexis, and manner of dress. Scott wished to conform to the standards and norms that the community had established. I noticed that this behavior is similar to what James Paul Gee referred to as and “Identity Kit”. Scott was being integrated into a member of the community by his sponsor.

I asked Goose the same questions but due to his length of tenure in Acacia his answers were different. When he originally joined Acacia, it only possessed 12 members. He discusses on all the sacrifices he had to make in order to turn the Chapter around. According to him, they had to restructure the organization from the ground up to ensure that Acacia would never sink to that level again. He talked about how much time he put into their 5k, which in its first year managed to raise more money for charity than all the other Greek organizations combined. He has seen the Chapter at its worst and at its best. When I brought up the concept of authority and his opinion of the new members his tone changed. He talked about how that the aspect of hard work had been replaced with apathy and complacency. He defends the senior members saying that they know what needs to be done to keep Acacia on the top but; the younger guys have never seen the bad and have never had to put in any work to build the Chapter up. He believes that he has put in enough time and effort and that the responsibility should fall on the younger members. This ideology can be compared to what Johns' says about professional academics, “some professional who understand the rules can also break them with impunity. They can push the boundaries because they know where the discipline has been and where it may be going, and how to use their authority, and expertise (Johns 516).” Goose is breaking the established norms of our community by missing meetings and not attending events causing conflict with the younger people who do not understand his reasoning. As the Pledge Educator, Goose put a strong emphasis on the need for a Big or “sponsor”. He has seen and lived the success stories about wayward Pledges being brought back into the community and their resulting successes, mirroring Brandt's own experiences with Raymond Branch and Dora Lopez, two youths that succeeded in part because of the sponsorship they received (Brandt 337).

Conclusion

The evidence I have gathered from this ethnographic study on the Acacia International Fraternity I have further exposed the complex relationships between junior and senior member in a discourse community. I have also analyzed the effect that having an experienced member act as a sponsor can benefit a newcomer’s integration into a discourse community. I believe that there is a great deal of aspects we could look into with regards to sponsorship in discourse communities.

Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy” Writing about Writing. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. Print.

Cerri, Michael. Personal interview. 28 May. 2012.

Gee, James. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics." Writing about Writing. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. Print.

Johns, Ann. "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice." Writing about Writing. Ed.

Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. Print.

Loree, Scott. Personal interview. 28 May. 2012.

Swales, Johns. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Writing about Writing. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. Print.

Appendix A

Interview Questions

6 Characteristics of a Discourse Community

1. Does your Community have any shared goals?
2. What methods do you you use to communicate with other members
3. What is the purpose of this communication?
4. Does you community have any specific genres?
5. Does your community have any unique words or phrases?
6. How do you control the inflow of new members and the outflow of old ones?

Authority and the Role of Sponsorship

1. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a part of Acacia?
2. How do you believe having Big (sponsor) affects new members?
3. How do you view conflict between younger and older members?

For my discourse community I believe I will focus on Greek life in general instead of just fraternities. I believe that Greek life is its own discourse community because it fills all the requirements of one.

All Greek organizations have a set of goals even though the =y vary form organization to organization. In general most Greek organizations strive to meet certain GPA requirements and almost all of them have a code that they try to live by. Also as an organization we are required to fulfill community service as well.

Another way Greek life is a Discourse community is that we a means of communication. We have a messaging service that allows us to talk to each other. We can use Chapter Spot or even a Facebook group to communicate quickly.

We also exchange information and ideas at weekly meetings and provide each other feedback.

Another element we have is that we have formal procedures and a hierarchy we follow and respect.

We have also developed many specialized words not found outside of Greek life we use when we wish to communicate.

The last way we are a discourse community is that we are selective about who we accept and we keep our numbers limited.

I am interested in this community because I am apart of it and I am passionate about it as well. I believe I will interview two of my friends, one guy, and one girl, to get both sides of the group. I can also use our message board to add to my paper.

I would have to say my fraternity, and all of Greek life in general, is its own discourse community.  Swakes gives his criteria for a discourse community, and i believe Greek life fits it.
his first criterion is that it have a set of goals.  Greek life has this in spades.  We all have an agreed upon GPA we have to meet, we have community service requirements, and we all strive to better ourselves.
We also have a means of communication.  We have a messaging service we us to talk to each other.
We also have a method of feedback when we exchange dialog with each other.  Another thing that makes us a discourse community is the fact we have membership fees, as we all use many methods of communication to communicate.  Also we have specialized words not found outside of Greek life.  The last way we are discourse community is the at we keep a limited amount of members.

9

I believe that technology shapes the writing landscape. Dennis Baron states that “the computer is simply the latest step in a long line of writing technologies. In many ways its development parallels that of the pencil” (425). I do agree with him on this but I believe he overlooks the impact that technology has had on writing. Even the pencil changed the way people wrote. I believe that the computer has already changed literature. With the advent of blogs and other instances of personal media I don't see how Baron cant see that writing will change. Twitter is a great instance of this. Twitter is a very useful tool. People can use it many ways. Some people just put short messages about what their doing but others try to put short paragraphs. The key to twitter is that there is a character limit. This causes people to have to think about what there going to say and edit their work, which is unlike anything that has come before it.

I was very fortunate growing up. I went to a fairly wealthy school system so I always had access to technology. I remember how in elementary school, about once a week, they would bring in the laptop cart and we would spend the class working on writing or word processing. This was very beneficial to my ability to write. I learned to use the different tools at my disposal to perfect my writing and spelling. Computers were not new to me however; I had a computer as long as could remember. My dad was in IT so he wanted me to learn how to use a computer from a young age. He would spend a great deal of time after he got off work to play computer games with me and show me how some systems work. His influence has lead me to pursue a career in the same field as him and has shaped my life profoundly.

reflections

Alex Douglas

In the past 10 years there has been no bigger influence on my knowledge than Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that anyone can edit and it contains articles and information that other encyclopedias may not have. The main strength of Wikipedia, its ease of editing, is also its main controversy. I recently have had the experience of editing and adding to a Wikipedia article.

When I was trying to decide what article I should edit it was recommended that I do an article on something relevant to my major so I could put it on my resume, so I chose Vodafone UK, a telecommunications company. This is where Wikipedia's free editing is a shortcoming. Anyone can change my article. They could reword sections, add new information, or even cut out sections. This could be problematic, as in a few years what my employer sees may or may not be my original writing. This kind of editing brings up Poters' concept of intertextuality. As Writing About Writing puts it, “intertextuality is the idea that all texts contain “traces” of other texts and that there can be no text that does not draw on some ideas form other texts.” (86) This means that just as someone who edits my article is borrowing from my text, what I wrote is based on someone elses' work. I believe that this infers that even if someone were to change parts of my work, it would still remain partially mine, as my work was the starting point.

As I started to write my article I found that finding information that meets Wikipedia's credibility standards. The little information that I did find was hard to put into the article without making it look like it was directly copied. I then found that there was too little information about Vodafone, so I began looking for a new article.

To find a new article I had to go threw the stubs and start class articles to find one that I could edit successfully. I ran into a few problems at this juncture. I found that many of the start class articles were too developed for me to add new information conversely, almost all of the stub class articles were empty. After a few hours of searching I was able to find an article that I could relate to, The Dublin Irish Festival, a annul festival that takes place in my home town.

Finding information about the Irish Festival was not as hard as for the Vodafone article. I was able to find a few news articles about awards the Festival had won and I was also able to find good information on their own website. Using this information I was able to put it into my own words and add a few sections to the article.

The actual editing of Wikipedia was pretty straight forward. There were a few codes you had to know to link articles or cite references but they were easy to learn and implement. The only trouble I had was that I didn't like the font that you have to edit in, but that's a fairly minor complaint.

In the end I found that Wikipedia is a great resource and encyclopedia. I learned a lot from my editing experience and I believe that I will edit an article in the future.

7

When Brandt stated that sponsors always have something to gain from sponsorship, i felt this was kind of obvious.  She brings up how little leagues have sponsors from local businesses.  these business are not just being altruistic.  they have an alternative motive.  They are trying to bring in business by sponsoring the team, and they are hoping that their new customers will offset the costs of their sponsorship.
I have been involved with sponsorship in my own life.  For my fraternities' 5k, I had to go around and ask companies if they would want to sponsor us.  Everyone that sponsored us knew that they would be able to benefit from the exposure.