Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Hey Girl- go get that glam! A final paper.

Sorority life - its a presence and an ideal for many college women. Like the male-centered Fraternities, they promise communities that run deep with ritual, promise, and bonds that break the social fabric, a re-inscription of a new familial order. Within their 'houses' these spaces call upon 'sisters' to actively imagine a new family. There are even 'house mothers.'

In the age of postmodernity culture has pushed on the limits of these college campus groups rendering them an object to be adapted, transmitted, and represented in united states culture. Whether in film or television these 'real' houses are now haunted by the postmodern accumulation and projection of their media double. Yet media doubles never allow for the participation that a new double promises. This is Facebook and Myspace application/game Sorority Life.


Sorority Life is a game but also seeks to be more than that. Multiple blogs have popped up surrounding this participatory network of 'sisters' and their 'glam.' Beyond these blogs we find Facebook groups devoted towards extra-textual 'houses' where sisters imagine beyond the limitations of the game. These are simulated sororities of simulated sororities. More importantly these imagined sororities call for participatory political action of using apparel colors to designate the recognition of particular causes. For example, on certain wednesdays members of these extra-textual 'houses' wear pink for breast cancer awareness.


How can this application be understood. This paper will look at this application for its potential to conjure new groups and engagements beyond the game itself. What are the stakes of the imagined 'recognition' of causes? What history does such action have? How is this game a network? In what ways does it deconstruct and form new networks within the Facebook network itself?


The paper will turn to Fredric Jameson's “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” Lee and Lipuma's “Cultures of Circulation,” Granovetter's “The Strength of Weak Ties,” and Terranova's “Network Culture.” These texts will act as tools for deconstructing the politics of this network/game.

-Sean

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