Anthropologist Laurie Wilkie finds parallels between an early 20th-century fraternity and Peter Pan

[Ian David]

Masculinity at the intersection of College Avenue and Never Land
Anthropologist Laurie Wilkie finds parallels between an early 20th-century fraternity and Peter Pan
By Wendy Edelstein, NewsCenter | 21 September 2010

BERKELEY — When Berkeley anthropologist Laurie Wilkie began studying excavated debris from a campus fraternity, a 1996 Los Angeles Times story summed up her findings by advising readers to "Think Animal House circa 1920."

The paper could hardly have been more wrong. In Wilkie’s new book, The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi (University of California Press), the professor of anthropology tells a story about a group of civilized young men around the turn of the 20th century who used expensive china imprinted with their fraternity's crest, occasionally cross-dressed, drank beer from steins and pilsner glasses, and, ultimately, went on to prestigious, high-powered careers.

Wilkie didn't want to impose a late 20th-century notion of fraternity life on the late-1800s and early-1900s Berkeley frat. Instead, she framed her book around Peter Pan. James Barrie's popular play, which delighted theatrical audiences in England and America in the early 20th century, reflected the period's gender tensions.

Wilkie found resonance between Peter's jolly band and the fraternity members: "Never Land was a pause for the Lost Boys, a hiatus in growing up," she says. "Just as the Lost Boys were only Lost Boys when they were in Never Land, you're really only an active Zeta Psi brother when you're in the house."


Laurie Wilkie displays a cup she recovered from Zeta Psi's Prohibition-era dumping site. (Wendy Edelstein/NewsCenter photo)

More:
http://links.visibli.com/links/38e971

[Ken Burch]

1. Peter Pan as Bluto Blutarski?

That thought takes us to some places I'm not sure anyone wants to go.

[bananas]

2. direct link

for those who don't want the annoying redirect and framed spam page: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/09/21_wilkie.shtml

[Ian David]

3. Thanks! n/t