TRATAMIENTO DE LA COMPETENCIA BÁSICA “APRENDER A APRENDER” EN BACHILLERATO

This research analyzes portrayals of BGLOs in both print and video and the effects these portrayals have on students’ perception, knowledge and understanding of BGLO culture. Utilizing visual elicitation methodology, this project reports responses from eight students; four Greek and four non-Greek. These eight student’s commented on how they believe BGLOs are portrayed in popular media and more specifically tried to identify stereotypes and their affect on the culture. In an effort to further develop theoretical framework on the correlation between perceived norms and cultivation and to discover where some gaps in research may exist, my research attempts to answer the following question:

How do media representations perpetuate stereotypes of BGLOs among college-aged students?

Some scholars would question using popular media in a journalistic qualitative study, mainly because of the use of fabricated content. Kimbrough points out that popular media have had the biggest influence on the visibility of BGLO culture (p.56). In 1988, Columbia Pictures released the first feature film about Black college life in Spike Lee’s School Daze. The film follows a group of fraternity and sorority members who clash with other students at a fictional Mission College, a Historically Black College,

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during homecoming weekend. Inspired by Lee’s own college experience, the film uses musical influences to touch upon issues of race, skin tone bias and political activism. For almost 20 years, Lee’s film served as the only movie where BGLO characters drove the main plot. Other television shows and films followed, but School Daze was the example that many looked to for representation of BGLOs, and therefore it has been considered a valuable cultural artifact for study (Jones, 2007). Using video in visual elicitation methodology isn’t met without some criticisms, but it provides a more detailed and specific look at attitudes and behaviors that otherwise may not be

photographed without contemporary restrictions.

Through my methodology, research and analysis, this project evaluates four important questions in an attempt to come to a solid conclusion of the research question above. These questions are:

1) How do college students learn about BGLOs?

2) What stereotypes do students identify in media portrayals of BGLOs? 3) Do stereotypes portrayed in the media have any influence on how people

BGLOs act in reality?

4) What images that are important to the representation of BGLOs are missing?

Typical interviews include information about how the respondents feel about particular images/video clips, whether or not the media gives a greater understanding of BGLO culture and documents what the viewer identifies about what is happening in

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the photographs and who is involved. Through their personal experiences, I hope to find some areas of improvement for journalist to understand how perceived norms dictate the development of stereotypes.

Ideally, this project seeks to be a model of how to document a young and challenging culture such as BGLOs, while also striving to develop a better

understanding and appreciation for a sub-history that is essential to American history. I plan to pursue this visual project after graduation in hopes of publishing a book or long- term documentary film and coffee table book.

Most images used in the elicitation come directly from the Beyond This Place © Project, which show contemporary scenes of Black Greek life. These images were taken over a two-year period. Other images that were used include images from The

Bison yearbook of Howard University (Figures 2,14, 20.), a flyer from a 1988 campus

party (Figure 6) and an image from a pre-1989 that demonstrate taking ‘wood’ (Figure

8). Mostly, the idea behind using past images is to showcase some aspects of Greek

life that cant be shown today.

Additionally, Figure 21 through Figure 25 all are stills that come from the movie

School Daze. In the case of these images, they represent a single frame of what are no

more than 4-minute clips. These clips are included in the media folder included (Folder name is Elicitation_Figure_21-24). The following outlines the structure of how I

conducted the visual elicitation process:

1) I gathered a selection of 25-40 images from the professional component and narrowed the elicitation images to a group of 20. The reason I choose 20 images

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was to leave more time to incorporate the video. In this effort, the goal was to spend 30 minutes on images and another 30 on video clips for an hour-long interview. Although most of the interviews ran over, a majority of people found the video portion of the visual elicitation extremely helpful to talk about current issues.

2) The eight volunteers viewed the 20 images (with no caption information) and 5 videos on a projector screen and were instructed to speak freely about what they saw in the images as well as speak about if the images brought any stories, memories, or thought to mind. I controlled the pace of the presentation, which wasn’t restricted by time, in order to allow participants to speak freely and as long as they wanted about the media presented.

3) Respondents were then asked research questions in a very fluid way during the course of the conversation.

4) During the course of the interview I also asked several questions. These included:

a. In a few words could you explain or tell me what Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) are?

b. Give a brief description of your first experience with a BGLO or a member of one.

c. Are there any images that you feel are missing?

d. Are these pictures/video clips accurate of your own experience with Black Greeks?

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This type of research is important to photographers because of the discourse surrounding the power in representing or stereotyping a particular culture. I wanted to make sure that I was not forgetting or worse omitting images that people thought were important to the culture. By mixing up the types of media, I found the diversity in topics and subject matter to be inclusive to the culture I was trying to document.

The images used in this elicitation study where collected from my own personal work, donated images from alumni members and also include historical images. I presented the images in a slide show view using Photo Mechanic on my computer; as a result, no caption information was given to participants. I believe this helped keep our dialogue more organic and free flowing. Images used for the elicitation are included in the media folder with captions and figure identification numbers (File is named

5_Elicitation_images.pdf).