Ethnography From the Inside

Paper Summary:

The following paper discusses a brief ethnography of a cultural institution, the Albion College Swim Team Culture. The writer discusses the relatively few formal rules of behavior and general lack of hierarchy in the team. The way in which the members of the team draw on values and patterns of behavior that they have brought with them from the larger world are examined as well as the way in which they draw from their own experiences about being taught how to behave in American culture.

From the Paper:

"All cultures and all peoples mark significant events in their lives with rituals and ceremonies. Sometimes these are of a religious nature, but they do not need to be. Rituals, as Maurice Bloch defines them, are recognizable to the participants by their repetitive nature and the formally prescribed elements that they contain and they mark out for the participants the important themes of the culture. Rituals must be done a certain way to "count" for the individuals concerned, and following tradition is more important in a ritual than seeking personal fulfillment through individual expression. This is certainly true for members of the swim team."

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