What is there to say about American colleges as cultural artifact?
- on the construction of the setting (institution as embodied and animated) by the adults
- on the setting-as-trigger for experiences by the young men and women as they go through a rite of passage (liminality?)
In images: what there is to navigate and experience in an American college:
The field ("campus") as space and place with its monuments and paths, its nooks and crannies (de Certeau [1980] 1984).
The spaces for teaching (learning?) in its many forms and its various assessments: the tool of class reproduction? (Varenne & McDermott 1998)
Dorm room: The private space for individual learning (?) and expression. And also an external sign of financial might (and of an index to the financial means of class reproduction)
The monumental space for individual learning (?).
(Lions, Bears, Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs, Cougars, Maroon, Big Red, Crimson Tide, Fighting Irish...) (Lévi-Strauss on Totemism [1962] 1963)
The popular gatherings for individual experiences that may be part of establishing one's future ("relationships" of various types and their dangers). This is 'play'? (Bateson 1955; Geertz 1973)
The ceremonial end of the rite of passage when one receives "rights and privileges" attached to the "degree" attained. Now one is a authorized, legitimate, member of a class.
