Black Haze

Ricky L. Jones is Professor and Chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville and the author of What's Wrong with Obamamania? Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Political Imagination, also published by SUNY Press.

"…[an] impressive book … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"Black Haze is a landmark study on hazing culture within black Greek-letter organizations. With an insider's eye and scholar's touch, Jones masterfully captures the emic contours, complexities, and contradictions of black fraternity hazing as ritual act and cultural practice. This text is at once rigorous and accessible, theoretical and practical, classic and urgent. Anyone interested in understanding hazing, masculinity, BGLOs, or black cultural practice must read this book!" — Marc Lamont Hill, coauthor of The Classroom and the Cell: Conversations on Black Life in America"Ricky Jones's Black Haze is an important study of black male identity development. By examining black men's relationship with fraternities, he uncovers larger and brilliantly penetrating insights into issues of masculinity and political identity among African American males in the post-civil rights era." — Peniel E. Joseph, author of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America"Black Haze is a compelling survey of black Greek-letter organizations, their history, purpose, and their most damning traditions. This is an examination of how the virtues of brotherhood and civic service coexist with brutal violence and cruelty within some of the oldest organizations in black America. Professor Jones has produced a vital contribution about a crucial and enduring problem." — William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress"Black Haze is a riveting coup de grâce against ritualized violence in black fraternities. The second edition of Black Haze is the most penetrating, illuminating, and articulate sociopolitical and cultural analysis of the chilling legacy of violence in black Greek-letter fraternities. As one of the world's leading authorities on black masculinity and organizations, Ricky Jones intelligently confronts traditional verities, social norms, and myths that seek to justify and continue ritualized violence in black fraternities through the courageous prism of a reformed insider dedicated to the preservation of black dignity and life." — Jeremy I. Levitt, author of Black Women and International Law: Deliberate Interactions, Movements and ActionsPraise for the First Edition"…provides valuable insights into the reasoning behind hazing, a practice that extends into the realms of sports and even high school, and is relevant for not only fraternity members and officials, but the general public as well." — The Griot"…an important contribution … because of the skillful manner in which Jones incorporates and critically analyzes relevant literature and other related scholarly writings … Jones, himself a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, offers personal observations as well as first-hand views and perceptions of hazing." — Journal of College Student Development

• Preface to the Second Edition: Black Haze RevisitedPreface to the First Edition1. Hazing Then and NowConcern, Change, and QuestionsThe Influence of the Ancient and Modern Worlds on Black Greek ViolenceFalsehoods and Failure: The Epistemic Domino Effect and Ethics in Greekdom2. Men, Media and MovementsHabermas, the Public Sphere, and a Critical Approach to the MediaProblems with HabermasBGFS, Social Movements, and IdentityThe Politics of Personal Involvement: Gazing through Fraternity Men’s Eyes3. The History of Black Greek-Letter FraternitiesAmerican Greek-Letter FraternalismBlack Entrance into American College LifeThe Exclusion of Blacks from White Greek LifeThe Founding of Black Greek-letter FraternitiesAlpha Phi AlphaKappa Alpha PsiOmega Psi PhiPhi Beta SigmaIota Phi ThetaBGF’s Political InvolvementThe Depoliticization of BGFs4. The Pledge Process as SacrificeViolence Vehicles: Rituals as Social StabilizersThe Commonalities of Modern Fraternity RitualHazing and the Symbolic JourneyThe Lure of Liminality: The Ritualistic Remaking of the Self5. The Hegemonic Struggle and Domination in Black Greek-Letter FraternitiesViolence, Power, Hegemony, and DominationEducated Gangs? To Pledge or Not to PledgeConservatism and DominationBGF Ruling Blocs and the Membership Intake Epidemic6. Acceptance, Freedom, and Identity Construction in Black Greek-Letter FraternitiesFormations of the Black Male SelfEconomic AnxietyBlack Identity FragmentationThe Self, Selves, and the Victory of ConsentAkrasia and Choice7. Beyond the Fraternal SelfAfterword: Reflections On FailureFor Reputation and Revenue: The Champion and Sandusky FailuresThe Organizational Bottom LineThe If IndictmentAcknowledgmentsAppendixNotesBibliographyIndex