Title: Wake Ups

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Customary Folklore: Rituals

• Language: English

• Country: United States of America

Informant Data:

Alexis Wyatt, aged 21, is a Director of Ujima who joined the group her freshman fall (2014). She is a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and minoring in Psychology. Alexis was born, raised, and currently lives in Akron, Ohio. Before Ujima, Alexis had two years of dance experience in high school with modern, contemporary, and lyrical dance.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The entire team participates in Wake Ups—old members wake up new members. This ritual occurs at the beginning of every year after new members are selected during auditions. This ritual originated at the group’s founding, and Alexis first learned of it when she was woken up during her freshman fall.

• Cultural Context: Many groups on Dartmouth’s campus will wake their new members as an initiation ritual. Doing so gives teams the opportunity to spend time together and learn more about their new members. This ritual also acts as a surprise to new members and embodies Ujima’s cultural focus on closeness and fun.

Item:

As an initiation ritual, Ujima wakes their new members up after they are selected to be on the team. Typically, the entire team will then spend time together.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file): Video

Transcript of Associated File:

“We did wake ups as well, and wake ups were an experience. They definitely made me feel welcome, but they were also like, ‘Bleh,’ and just very jarring at the same time, but in a great, ‘This is a kind of a fun surprise,’ way.

Informant’s Comments:

After the new members are woken up, the team will typically spend time at a diner getting to know one another.

Collector’s Comments:

This ritual not only creates bonds between old members and new members, but also establishes relationships between new members and strengthens old members’ bonds.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed By: Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

• Ritual
• Dance
• Team