Literature Review #4

Through the Liminal: A Comparative Analysis of Communitas and Rites of Passage in Sport Hazing and Initiations by Jay Johnson

1. Visual

This article is from the Canadian Journal of Sociology, I couldn't find a picture of the author or anything else relevant.

2. Citation
Johnson, Jay. “Through the Liminal: A Comparative Analysis of Communitas and Rites of Passage in Sport Hazing and Initiations." Canadian Journal of Sociology. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 22 June 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
3. Summary
This paper focuses on sports hazing and initiation. It explains that even though ritual and ceremonies have existed in many types of organizations including greek life, military, and private schools, student athletes usually endure different types of hazing. Regardless there is still a similar characteristic of this "rite of passage" gateways and metamorphosis form pledge to member.

4. Author
I have researched a lot on Jay Johnson and I can't find anything about him since it's such a common name. (will update as soon as I find something relevant)

5. Key Terms
Liminality- comes from the Latin word limens (threshold). "It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer."

Communitas- can be defined as either a characteristic of people experiencing liminality together or to an unstructured community in which people are equal, or to the very spirit of community.

6. Quotes
"I argue that varsity sports initiation ceremonies and initiation rituals of other, more ancient cultures are more constructed and function in similar ways and articulate the foal of communitas as defined by Turner. However sports initiations that rely upon practices of personal humiliation, degradation and sexual acts actually prevent the expression of true communitas."

"In general, a common conclusion drawn is that hazing amount men is more likely to be violent in nature and hazing among women is more likely to be psychological/emotional in nature, although this demographic is in flux..."

7.Value
This paper will help me to explain ritual and the rites of passage in sports since I have already done so with black lettered greek fraternities and sororities from my other literature reviews. The point of including this piece is to give a little background when explaining the similarities and differences between the types of hazing but that they all always link back to the common theme of respected rituals and repetition.