Category Archives: Other

Slack Communication

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Title: Slack Communication

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre: Customary Folklore: rituals, traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: United States

Informant Data:

  • Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:

All members of X.ado participate in this tradition and use Slack to communicate with each other. This tradition has existed for at least 3 years according to the informant.

  • Cultural Context:

X.ado tries to create a very inclusive culture and members think of the group as a second family. The members are constantly communicating and as a result, they use a special application that is devoted entirely to communication amongst the group members. The fact that members use a separate application just to communicate with each other as opposed to using GroupMe or other applications that students use to communicate with most other students reflects the extremely strong relationships that have formed on X.ado and the importance group members give each other.

Item:

The group X.ado maintains a Slack team with different channels (such as 17F, random, and rehearsals) to communicate with each other rather than use GroupMe. On Slack the group has many different channels as members discuss many different topics with each other. GroupMe is the application that most college students use in order to communicate and socialize with each other.

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

https://youtu.be/nX9XfnT0MJQ

Transcript of Associated File:

One thing about being in a group like ours on campus that’s involved not just with something we do during a lot of hours in our week but also with something that’s such an important part of our identities is that we spend a lot of time with those people. One cool thing we do is we communicate through Slack instead of GroupMe or something because we have so many different things going on. We have like a 17F channel, we have like a rehearsal channel, a social channel, a random channel, a song of the day channel, and we have all these different things going on all the time and it really just demonstrates how X.ado’s involved in so many different aspects of our lives.

Informant’s Comments:

  • See transcript

Collector’s Comments:

  • Slack is an interesting choice for communication because GroupMe is such an ubiquitous form of communication for various collegiate student across the United States. For example: many social groups, fraternities and sororities, and sports teams maintain GroupMe groups. Slack is typically used for businesses (more specifically, it’s popular amongst tech startups), which suggests that X.ado has a different dynamic compared to other student groups on campus, perhaps a more serious tone.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • acapella
  • team
  • communication
  • tradition

X-hour

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Title: X-hour

General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: rituals, traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

  • Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All members of X.ado participate in this ritual. It occurs once a week. This ritual began when the group was created 25 years ago. The informant first experienced it during his first week as a member of X.ado.

  • Cultural Context

X-hour is a joke about the Dartmouth class schedule. Every class has extra optional class periods that professors use as much or as little as they wish. These periods are often called X hours. This ritual of meeting once a week just to share beliefs, reconnect and talk also reflects the inclusive and close group culture X.ado has.

Item: Once a week, X.ado meets for an hour to have an event called “X-hour”. At this event, members sometimes participate in prayers together, have a bible study, support other members by sharing affirmations about each other, make spontaneous music together and more. The hour is a chance for group members to relax, have a good time and reconnect.

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

https://youtu.be/Ok09mJ4PeNQ

Transcript of Associated File:

X-hour is something we do once a week, for an hour. It starts with an X, it’s kind of a joke about the class schedule. It’s something we’ve been doing for the full 25 years of our existence where we just meet together as a group and have a bible study. Like last week we did affirmations, where we go around the group and everybody says something like really affirmative about the person that they like or something meaningful about that person. It helps us grow together as a group. Sometimes during X-hour one of the things that we’ll do is worship. We’ll have someone bring it like a guitar or something and just do some music to celebrate our faith and people try to like harmonize and stuff, but if you are not prepared for that, where you don’t have sheet music like for acapella then you sound like really really bad. I remember sometimes just like these atrocious noises coming out of x-hour, but people have a good time and it just makes it really entertaining.

Informant’s Comments:

  • See transcript

Collector’s Comments:

This is a pretty unique tradition that I haven’t seen with any other groups. It makes sense given X.ado’s religious roots and serves to strengthen the group as well as their religious connection.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • acapella
  • team
  • ritual
  • bonding

 

 

Superstition #11

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Title: New Year Foods in Japan

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Material Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Leeya is a current sophomore (’20) at Dartmouth College. She lives in Hawaii and is native Hawaiian as well as Japanese. When she was younger she spent summers in Japan attending elementary school. She speaks Japanese and English.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant learned of these superstitions from older figures such as her parents as well as from practicing them.
  • Cultural Context: The superstitions pertaining to foods is largely symbolic, likely unique to Japan but not necessarily exclusive to it, as noted by the informant.

Item:

Leeya says that it is customary to eat certain foods around the new year to bring good luck, as different ones symbolize different things. These foods are collectively called Osechi-ryōri. She explains how buckwheat noodles, called toshi-koshi soba, are eaten because the noodles are long, therefore representing long life.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

“On new years you’re supposed to eat certain foods it’s called osechi-ryōri. Each food has its own meaning, for example there’s like soba – toshi-koshi soba and that’s supposed to signify long life because, you know, the noodles are long.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Most foods are eaten because they are symbolic.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The symbolism makes a lot of sense. Some followup research I did on my own explained that another popular item is shrimp, as it’s curved shape and long whiskers resemble a bent-over old man .

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Good Luck/Japan/Food

Essay Meme

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Title: Essay Meme

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal and Material: Joke
  • English
  • USA

Informant Data:

  • Emma Alter is a student in the class of 2020 at Dartmouth College. She is majoring in English modified with Philosophy with a minor in Spanish. Emma is originally from Chicago, and she began making memes last year. However, she has been viewing and sharing memes on Tumblr since she was in fifth grade

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:
    • This meme and its information were collected during a one on one interview in a study room in Baker Berry Library at Dartmouth College. Emma described how she made the meme on her computer as well as how this meme has since been spread around Dartmouth’s student population by way of the meme page, text messages, and email. This meme was posted on the Dartmouth meme page and primarily circulated through Dartmouth students; however, it is not Dartmouth specific and students at other colleges would certainly be able to relate and understand the humor of the meme.
  • Cultural Context:
    • The cultural context of this meme reflects Dartmouth students’ tendency to procrastinate. Oftentimes, students will put off working on an assignment for as long as possible because they don’t have the desire to complete it. Moreover, this meme also incorporates images and text from a popular Netflix TV show called “Stranger Things.” Thus, people who have seen the show might find the meme even more enjoyable than those who have not. The lines in the show that are displayed in the meme are people calling out “Will?” because they are looking for a boy named Will. This meme has cleverly changed the use of the name Will, indicating that Dartmouth students can’t find their will to work.

Item:

Informant’s Comments:

  • Emma said that this meme is particularly meaningful to her because oftentimes, no matter how hard she tries, she can’t work up the will to start on an assignment. She also notes that this tendency to procrastinate is common amongst Dartmouth students and that most people who go to Dartmouth can understand and relate to the meme on some level.

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I think this is a spot-on meme. I really enjoy how it incorporates lines from a popular TV, but takes them out of context and gives them a whole new meaning that Dartmouth students understand and can relate too. Moreover, I enjoy the cleverness behind this meme.

Collector’s Name: Bryce Killian

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth. Meme. Hanlon. Hard Alcohol.

Where is Dartmouth Meme

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Title: Where is Dartmouth Meme

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal and Material: Joke
  • English
  • USA

Informant Data:

  • Emma Alter is a student in the class of 2020 at Dartmouth College. She is majoring in English modified with Philosophy with a minor in Spanish. Emma is originally from Chicago, and she began making memes last year. However, she has been viewing and sharing memes on Tumblr since she was in fifth grade.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:
    • This meme and its information were collected during a one on one interview in a stairwell in Baker Berry Library. Emma shared with me how this meme has been very popular and has spread not only throughout Dartmouth students but also onto other college campuses that are familiar with Dartmouth’s isolated location. This meme has been one of the most popular memes ever on the Dartmouth meme page.
  • Cultural Context:
    • The cultural context of this meme reflects the isolated location of Dartmouth College. Moreover, many people know that Dartmouth is very isolated, but they still do not really know where Dartmouth is. The meme also incorporates Paris Hilton, who is a well-known figure in pop culture. Paris is known for not being very smart, and this meme makes light of how she might describe the location of Dartmouth by taking a quote from one of her TV shows and tying it into Dartmouth’s location. This meme is especially humorous, because Dartmouth really is located between a few mountains with trees everywhere.

Item:

Informant’s Comments:

  • Emma said that she saw a meme on the internet that had a similar format with the same quote from Paris Hilton, and she felt as if she could really relate to that quote by going to Dartmouth. So, as often happens with memes, she took the meme and altered the joke to fit into the social context of Dartmouth and ended up with a very successful and popular meme. Emma also noted that while she is making fun of Dartmouth’s isolated location, she does enjoy it.

Collector’s Comments: 

  • Emma was very excited to talk about this meme because it has been so popular amongst the student body. In my opinion, this is a great meme because it is very funny and shows how different internet memes can be changed as they are passed from group to group, which is exactly what happened with this meme.

Collector’s Name: Bryce Killian

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth. Meme. Isolated. Trees. Mountains

Meme Ritual

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Title: Meme Ritual

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tiffany Park ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Birthplace: Findlay, Ohio
      • Grew up in Maryland
    • Major/Minors: Geography major and Education and Public Policy minor
    • Dance Experience prior to Dartmouth: None
    • Joined Street Soul last fall
      • Before joining Street Soul, Tiffany was a part of Sheba

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All members of the group participate in this ritual. It occurs after any performance the group has. The tradition has existed for a few years and the informant first experienced it after her first performance.

  • Cultural Context

By making fun of each other’s mistakes in a light-hearted way, the individuals in the group promote the idea that mistakes are perfectly OK in each show and can be used to improve later on. This helps create a friendly and positive culture on the team.

Item:

After a performance, members will look through pictures and videos of the show. They take screenshots or pictures of funny faces, mistakes, and positions, or moves that need to be corrected. These pictures are then sent to the entire group and are used as a way to see what can be improved and what needs to be fixed in a friendly and funny environment.

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

Meme Ritual

Transcript of Associated File:

“The ritual, the Meme Ritual for like after performance, everyone screenshots mistakes or weird facials. It’s just like a way to make light of our mistakes and just like know that ultimately it’s not a big deal. So this past performance i was uh chewing gum, uh during my piece um so I was just like *nom nom* and it looked really, really, really, really funny um so people were calling me out on that which is but it’s like ok you know it’s like um it’s just like oh don’t do it next time it looks silly like um look at her, kinda thing so it’s like really funny. We also like uh there were a couple like winks in there and we were like ooh use it in a flitz like kinda thing.”

Informant’s Comments:

Informant believes that this is a fun way to analyze each show in a not so critical manner.

Collector’s Comments:

I think this sounds like a really funny and cute ritual to have. It’s always funny to look at these things in retrospect and to have your funny faces and mistakes in meme form is very clever.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dance
  • Team
  • Tradition
  • Ritual
  • memes
  • mistakes

Cipher

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Title: Cipher

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tiffany Park ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Birthplace: Findlay, Ohio
      • Grew up in Maryland
    • Major/Minors: Geography major and Education and Public Policy minor
    • Dance Experience prior to Dartmouth: None
    • Joined Street Soul last fall
      • Before joining Street Soul, Tiffany was a part of Sheba

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

The entire group will huddle on the stage after a show. Not every member jumps into the cipher but all members support whoever does. At some shows, Street Soul has partnered with Ujima for the cipher. This tradition is relatively new and has been occurring for about a year.

  • Cultural Context

This tradition helps the group celebrate different members’ of the groups individual dance styles. An important part of the culture in Street Soul is understanding why different people dance and understanding each person’s personality and history, and this tradition reflects that.

Item:

The whole group will gather on stage and huddle around each other. People then take turns jumping into the cipher and dancing however they want. This promotes both street style and freestyle which is important as it allows individual personalities to shine through in a dance.

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

Cipher

Transcript of Associated File:

“So, a new tradition we’re looking to incorporate into our shows is the Cipher, which is a freestyle circle after the show where anyone can go in at any time and just do whatever they feel like at the moment, whatever dance moves come to you in that moment. And it’s really great because it really shows our commitment to the street styles and to freestyling, which is very, very unique to us. None of the other groups are focused on that. And it’s really great because you can see people’s personality through it. Because when you do choreography, it’s often times like, ‘Do da da da da da,’ and everyone’s like, ‘Da da da da da.’ But when you see freestyle, it’s so unique. It’s your own thing and it’s so in that moment and you can’t ever reproduce it. So it’s very, very, very special and I love it. And this time, it was really great because we were able to incorporate Uji[ma] into our Cipher. So this isn’t something that they’re normally accustomed to, but it was so great to see their own individual styles and their uniqueness.”

Informant’s Comments:

Informant believes that this is a way to highlight individual dance moves which may not happen with a choreographed dance which focuses on the group as a whole.

Collector’s Comments:

Whenever I think of people dancing on the street and free styling, I always imagine something similar to Street Soul’s Cipher. It seems like a great ending  to each show and it’s especially cool to see other dance groups jump in with their own interpretation of dancing as well. 

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti/Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dance
  • Team
  • Tradition
  • Ritual
  • Free styling
  • Street style

Birthdays

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Title: Birthdays

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tiffany Park ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Birthplace: Findlay, Ohio
      • Grew up in Maryland
    • Major/Minors: Geography major and Education and Public Policy minor
    • Dance Experience prior to Dartmouth: None
    • Joined Street Soul last fall
      • Before joining Street Soul, Tiffany was a part of Sheba

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

The entire group participates and this has been a ritual for the past 3 or 4 years.

  • Cultural Context

Street Soul uses these birthday celebrations to celebrate each individual member and show that each member is an integral part of the group. By using “Birth” instead of “Birthday”, the celebration offers a unique touch on birthdays. It makes it a street soul celebration rather than a normal birthday party. This tradition reflects the culture of the group which is very inclusive.

Item:

For members of the group’s birthdays, everyone has a big and special celebration. The team makes a poster and a card that read “Happy Birth!” and members go to the room of the person who’s birthday it is to wish them.

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

Birthday

Transcript of Associated File:

“One of the rituals that Street Soul has is like for every members birthday we do a special celebration, which like is a lot , but um, usually we get a big poster everyone signs it and it says happy birth on it instead of happy birthday. And we like go to their room on their birthday and surprise them and it’s like really cute.”

Informant’s Comments:

Informant believes that this is a way to include every individual on the team and show that the group loves having them.

Collector’s Comments:

For a large and inclusive group like Street Soul, hearing that they celebrate every member’s birthday is really cool. I think it’s really great that they do this because since there are a lot of members it makes sure that nobody feels left out compared to the rest of the group.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dance
  • Team
  • Tradition
  • Ritual
  • Birthdays

Dinner Discussions

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Title: Dinner Discussions

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA

Informant Data:

  • Tiffany Park ’18
  • Age: 21
  • Birthplace: Findlay, Ohio
    • Grew up in Maryland
  • Major/Minors: Geography major and Education and Public Policy minor
  • Dance Experience prior to Dartmouth: None
  • Joined Street Soul last fall
    • Before joining Street Soul, Tiffany was a part of Sheba

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All members of the team attend the dinner discussions. They occur a few times throughout each term during the evening. This tradition is relatively new and has been happening for about two years.

  • Cultural Context

By participating in these dinner discussions, Street Soul aims to foster a community outside of practices beyond dance shows and rehearsals. These discussions are more intimate and personal and allow each member to get to know each other better, which translates to them performing well as a group. These discussions reflect on the culture of Street Soul. Street Soul tries to be an inclusive group and be open to all members, but the culture of the group also focuses heavily on history and understanding the meaning of dance.

Item:

Group members get together, have dinner and discuss a pre-selected topic. Topics are usually related to social justice and dance. These groups discuss these topics to understand why they dance and the history of the group. The discussions also allow freshmen to understand the group on a deeper level and get to know other members.

 

Associated Video:

Dinner Discussions

Transcript: 

“An important group tradition that we’ve recently started is dinner discussions. So basically, we get together have dinner, and there’s usually a topic that we discuss, usually related to social justice and dance. And the reason why that is important is we need to understand why we dance, we need to understand the history of where we come from. And it’s really great for new members because it gives them a perspective on those who have come before them and for themselves, too: why they dance and why they do what they do.”

Collector’s Comments:

I think this is a very intimate way to really introduce the new members of Street Soul to their dancing beyond just physical practices. By providing the context and history of their group and their purposes to each member, I think each member can then have a greater appreciation for their art.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti/Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dance
  • Team
  • Tradition
  • Ritual

Rush Alternative Social Spaces Meme

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Title: Rush Alternative Social Spaces Meme

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal and Material: Joke
  • English
  • USA

Informant Data:

  • Jeffrey Qiao is a student in the class of 2020 at Dartmouth College. He is originally from Irvine, California but attended boarding school in the North East during his high school years. Jeffrey is a math major, and he began making memes during his freshman year in college.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:
    • This meme was collected during a one on one interview in Baker Berry Library at Dartmouth College. Jeffrey described how he made the meme using photoshop as well as well as how this meme has been spread throughout the Dartmouth student body by way of the meme page, text messages, and email. Because this meme is very specific to Dartmouth, it is primarily enjoyed and spread by people within the Dartmouth community.
  • Cultural Context:
    • The cultural context of this meme reflects on the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative that was implemented by President Hanlon in 2015. Part of the initiative was to build alternative social spaces for students, and many feel that this was just a veiled attempt to lessen involvement in Greek life on Dartmouth’s campus. The alternative social spaces idea has been largely unsuccessful up to this point, and Dartmouth’s social life remains centered around fraternities and sororities. So, this meme pokes fun at the alternative social spaces by suggesting that students can “rush” them, similarly to how a student might rush either a fraternity or sorority.

Item:

Informant’s Comments:

  • Jeffrey noted that he made this during rush week for Greek life houses, which is what gave him the idea. He also said that he figured since most students already view alternative social spaces as somewhat of a joke, he might as well make another joke out of it. The meme is meant to show students disregard for alternative social spaces.

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I am a big proponent of this meme, as I find it rather edgy and hilarious. Moreover, every student on Dartmouth’s campus, whether they are affiliated with Greek life or not, can relate to this meme.

Collector’s Name: Bryce Killian

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth. Meme. Hanlon. Hard Alcohol. Alternative Social Spaces.