{"id":18891,"date":"2015-04-23T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T13:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=18891"},"modified":"2015-04-23T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T13:26:09","slug":"scrutinizing-solidarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/04\/23\/scrutinizing-solidarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrutinizing Solidarity"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>Standing outside of Nelson Mandela&rsquo;s prison cell, senior Kristen Powell had a thought: how is it possible that the apartheid regime came to exist?<\/p><p>The University of Mary Washington anthropology major returned from an environmental sustainability trip to South Africa last January inspired to explore answers to her question &ndash; and her senior thesis provides her the platform to do just that.<\/p><p>Apartheid, a word meaning &ldquo;the state of being apart,&rdquo; was a system of racial segregation in South Africa in the latter half of the 1900s. For Powell, the question revolved around why people would identify with &nbsp;&nbsp;a regime such as apartheid or a sub-cultural group premised on racial supremacy and segregation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With groups such as American Neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan continuing to thrive in the 21st century, Powell argues that these questions must be explored to address the root forces behind racism in our society.<\/p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"18893\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/kristen-powell-3_gm\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1515,995\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Norm Shafer&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;X-T1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Kristen Powell with a photograph of Nelson Mandela's cell behind her, Monday, April 6, 2015. (Photo by Norm Shafer).&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1428331043&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Norm Shafer@2015&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;56&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Kristen Powell 3_GM\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Kristen Powell with a photograph of Nelson Mandela&amp;#8217;s cell behind her, Monday, April 6, 2015. (Photo by Norm Shafer).&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-300x197.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-1024x673.jpg\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-18893\" src=\"http:\/\/umwwebmaster.wpengine.com\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"Kristen Powell 3_GM\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-300x197.jpg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-768x504.jpg 768w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-1024x673.jpg 1024w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM-1140x749.jpg 1140w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/04\/Kristen-Powell-3_GM.jpg 1515w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/a>&ldquo;I started looking into all of the reasons people were drawn to these groups,&rdquo; said Powell. &ldquo;I have a hard time believing that people join the Ku Klux Klan or American Neo-Nazi organizations solely out of hatred for another ethnicity or race. Given what we know in anthropology about group dynamics and the power of ritual, I had reason to believe that this is a more complex picture.&rdquo;<\/p><p>Her approach in finding the appeal of these groups twists the traditional narrative of hierarchal racism by focusing more on the internal group dynamics, particularly initiation rituals.<\/p><p>For clues, the Alexandria native dove into everything from anthropology books such as <em>Communitas: The Anthropology of the Collective Joy<\/em> by Edith Turner and <em>The Elementary Forms of Religious Life <\/em>by Emile Durkheim to popular documentary series including <em>America&rsquo;s Book of Secrets, Gangland<\/em> and an ABC News Nightline segment called <em>Inside the New Ku Klux Klan<\/em>.<\/p><p>Her resulting thesis presents a compelling argument for the influence of collective emotions generated in ritual contexts on group solidarity and willingness to commit acts of violence on behalf of the group.<\/p><p>&ldquo;Emotion is extremely important to understanding any culture or social dynamic,&rdquo; says Powell. &ldquo;You could argue that because emotion is a constant, it plays a major role in all of the choices we make in life.&rdquo;<\/p><p>In her thesis, &ldquo;A Step into the Uncomfortable,&rdquo; Powell argues that the heightened emotions and sense of camaraderie during ritual practices such as initiation draw people into these groups and allow them to develop strong social bonds within the &lsquo;community.&rsquo; In other words, positive collective emotions can be put to negative uses.&nbsp; The feeling of belonging and acceptance within a social group can have the power to make people do things they otherwise probably would not.<\/p><p>&ldquo;The people who join these groups are usually lacking something and are looking for a sense of solidarity,&rdquo; said Powell.&nbsp; &ldquo;Former members often report struggles in their lives such as a sense of being abandoned by society or family, or losing their jobs.&rdquo;<\/p><p>After graduation, Powell will take a year to work and volunteer before continuing her education in anthropology and cultural studies.<\/p><p>&ldquo;I want to devote my life to promoting cultural awareness,&rdquo; said Powell.&nbsp; Paraphrasing anthropologist Ruth Benedict, she added, &ldquo;the purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human difference.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior Kristen Powell adds a new perspective to the cultural influence of solidarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":18892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[69,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-18891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"tag-alumni2015","10":"tag-sociology","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - 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