...The objectification of Native American figures, symbols, and culture is prevalent in many schools and professional sports teams across America today (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Nearly 1,200 high schools and 90 colleges in the United States use Native Americans as their school mascot (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Throughout football games, pep-rallies, and other school related events, fans chant Native American war chants and dress in stereotypical cartoon-like costumes (Pewewardy 181). Although some people would argue that these symbols are intended to honor Native Americans, they often portray them in an inauthentic and clichéd manner (Chaney, Burke and Burkley 43). Because of this, the barbaric, wild, and savage mascots have become a representation of the Native American...
Words: 823 - Pages: 4
...materials on the representation of native Americans in the media I found but a few sources that could be cited which is a comment in and of itself about the very lack of historical representation of native Americans with in our society. The very definition of representation should not be confused with its figurative meaning of diplomacy, but in this case is an expression of a group by means of a designation that represents said group, meaning that representation is a form of communication or factor that identifies a set or group, in this particular case a race of people that shall be from here on within this paper be identified as native Americans or native Americans Indians. With this in mind the preponderance...
Words: 629 - Pages: 3
...offense to the mascot used by both schools. In the case of Florida State University, the school has developed a mascot (Chief Osceola) that portrays the American Indian as an aggressive savage. “When Osceola leads the FSU football players onto the field, he signifies armed resistance, bravery, and savagery, and his appearance builds on the prevailing understandings of Indianness that construct Native Americans as aggressive, hostile, and even violent” (King and Springwood [2000], p. 285). This portrayal of savagery is at the heart of the arguments by native Indians to remove their names from colleges using their image as a motivational and war-like incentive. I have never viewed the mascots of colleges as being an offensive form of racial disparity, but this article made me view this issue from the other side and opened my eyes as to why groups of people may be offended by how their name is being represented to the public. For example, I grew up an avid sports fan, but history never really caught my interest. Therefore, my view of the American Indian is distorted from the reality of their true image because I have only seen their name used as rally call for battle in a football or basketball game. King and Springwood (2000) elaborated on this issue by stating, “To characterize the indigenous Seminole people or any other native nation of North America as warlike or bellicose dehumanizes them and demonizes them. More important, it disregards both their cultures and their histories”...
Words: 1769 - Pages: 8
...Throughout American history, Native Americans have become one of America’s most alienated minority groups. The American Indian’s population went through many different struggles, challenges, and progressive strides conveyed presently in time. The American film industry, focusing mainly on Hollywood, has long been misrepresenting Native Americans since the establishment of film. Just as American colonists ounce wrongfully forced Native Americans off their native lands, filmmakers deliberately neglect Native Americans to minor characters roles, that tend to showcase stereotypical, and inaccurate behaviors. Native American characteristics in Hollywood films have contained a range of different stereotypes including the common bloodthirsty, unintelligent, and noble savage ideas that have been prematurely developed. Pocahontas, created in 1995, was a motion picture portraying...
Words: 586 - Pages: 3
...They give them characters that make them look backward, look like savages, and people that are extremely dangerous. According to film history, they are villains to the American expansion; when people attempted to progress, they were opposed to change. The two films, Smoke Signals and Fast Runner, despite their differences, they use cinematic aspects such as sounds and shots, framing, angle, camera movement, music, lighting, and editing to give a different view of the indigenous people. The narration is in the native language with English subtitles, and this enables the viewers to appreciate the culture on display. The shots that are up-close give the characters an emotion that allows the audience to connect with them, and view them as ordinary humans (Knopf 342). The two films are helpful in making a way forward where people can be tolerant of different...
Words: 1431 - Pages: 6
...| Oregon bans Native American school mascots, images | Article 4 | | | Tika ShouldersSoc. 110 T/Thur. 2:15pmProfessor BlossomNovember 5, 2013 | Is it honorable or racist to use Native American Mascots in schools, or professional sports teams? Explain your answer in details. The use of Native American Mascots has been a contentious issue for many years. The exploit of names for sport teams was chosen at time when the dominate group believed that the Native American Indians were a loss and forgotten race. Back in the 20th century Native American tribes were perceived as ruthless, devious, savages, and war-like. According to Joseph Healey (2010) “the persistence of stereotypes and the extent to which they have become enmeshed in modern culture is illustrated by continuing controversies surrounding …names for athletic teams…” (p. 261). Stereotyping indigenous people has been largely perpetuated in our sport teams. When Indian names were chosen to represent sports it does not appear to be because of honor. Native American mascots are a seed of racism and are a general acceptance for institutionalizing American Indians once again. Race-based mascots are very offensive and do not belong in our schools. We are teaching our children that stereotyping and racial discrimination is still acceptable today. The Indian mascots are a creation of a generation that grew up in an era where Native Americans did not get treated fairly. Mascots are a symbol of the extensive history...
Words: 1148 - Pages: 5
...gestures like the ‘Tomahawk Chop’ influence racism to an extent. Indian Chant/ Tomahawk Chop Current sporting trends in the American renowned sports see most teams deriving their sense of identity from the culture of native Americans, the use of titles to describe their teams has been greatly manifested in America, citing examples from Washington- Redskins, Kansas- Chiefs and Cleveland – Indians to mention a few, also there is the adoption of mascots by teams and chanting to some the native tribes songs, like the use of war facial paints and using Tomahawk Chop chants. This has brought racist concerns to people affecting communities in a multicultural American society. The subjection of the culture of the native Americans to be used in such events is an open and obvious form of racism against the other communities, the teams endorsing the use of the mascots have caused Afro-Americans to be desegregated to some extent having some people not to qualify to playing for their teams on the basis of not being a native American. Their excuse is based on honoring Native American people. According to Churchill, if the groups are sincere in promoting the native American culture, racism will force the creation of also other minority groups to also foster and enrich their culture by forming parallel teams to such as the one formed to celebrate Native American culture. He advocates for the formation of a...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...back at films in Hollywood, we often believe that the African Americans, the Jews, or the Chinese have been portrayed the worst however, when it comes to the Native Americans there is no comparison on how hateful and unwholesome the movie industry has been to them. Not only through films has this group been deteriorated but also throughout history, the Americans have fully taken over everything that they had from their land to their culture and reinvented it in a way in which we pleased. The white people of Europe and the United States of America have always been against the “Red faces” throughout time and film has been the pivotal way in which the world sees this. Native Americans in film have been represented as the bad people whether it is in Disney animations or in documentaries and in each film it ends with the American white colonialized people taking over. The world started loving the Indian’s when film showed everybody that they were free spirited people who acted as mythological human beings because they come off to the audience as people who have magical powers and speak very rarely. Films would show Indian men riding and fighting while horse back riding and this was something that the average white person was not accustomed to, neither be the Native Americans. People that were not ethnic would go to films and watch as these silent films with Indians acting as heroes and it made being Native American something that the white man wanted to be. This fantasy came...
Words: 1006 - Pages: 5
...children are exposed to stereotypes and misrepresentations of Native Americans, with a stereotype being “preconceived or oversimplified generalizations usually, but not always, involving negative beliefs about a particular group” (Brunette). For children to learn the stereotypes so young and to think that that is how a certain group of people really is, only perpetuates the cycle of how some races or ethnic groups are treated, even something as seemingly innocent as Disney’s Pocahontas or Virginia Grossman’s Ten Little Rabbit, can really be a stereotype in hiding. “…Children between 2 and 5 years of age start to become aware of race, ethnicity, gender, and disabilities…Children learn stereotypes and attitudes about race from their parents, caretakers and the world around them” (Brunette). The knowledge that young children hold about Native Americans can vary greatly form child to child. Some children know about a tribe that lives in their area, while others just have the images that Disney has put in their heads. Most children believe that Native Americans are a thing of the past, that there are no living Native Americans today, A kindergarten class visits a children’s museum on a nearby American Indian reservation. As they enter the foyer, their guide, a member of the reservation’s Native tribe, greets the group. “When are we going to see some real Indians?” asks one of the children. “You are meeting one. I am American Indian,” says the guide. The children are skeptical. Their...
Words: 1817 - Pages: 8
...Native Americans, Struggles, Mascots, and Controversy There has been a national debate for years over Native American athletic mascots. “Members of the North Carolina Mascot Education and Action Group and the Guilford Native American Association, however, repeatedly told us that they perceived the use of Indian mascots, logos, caricatures, and similar images by our schools as a clear form of institutional racism” (Grier 2005: 51). In this paper we will discuss the controversial impact of the Native American stereotype used as mascots. In the early 1900’s when the threat of colonization was abolished Americans started to use the Native American mascot to show their acknowledgement of their struggles. Although this was symbolic it has been an ongoing controversy within schools and sports. California is the second highest state that uses the most Native American imagery and symbols. The importance of this contemporary issue is an ongoing debate in California that has impacted the true history of Native Americans and the battles they went through. The truth is crucial because their imagery and interpretation is misunderstood in American history. In the early 1900’s it became acceptable to use Native American imagery for advertisement. “One of the reasons why most Americans find the mascots unremarkable and do not turn a critical eye toward the mascots is because of the prevalence of similar images throughout U.S. popular culture” (King, et al 2002:391). Although years later...
Words: 1493 - Pages: 6
...a right to have representation in government by voting. The concept of the “common man” describes a white working male of middle class. Andrew Jackson was the 7th president and American war hero from the war of 1812 battle of New Orleans and fought in the Revolutionary war when he was young. Andrew Jackson supported the representation of the “common man” which made him popular amongst those who were considered in his eyes to be the “common man”. Andrew Jackson was both a democratic and undemocratic president because of his Native American policy, economic policy and Jacksonian political policy. Andrew Jackson acted democratically and undemocratically on the issue of Native American policy. The Native American Policy was how Natives were treated by the government. Source J demonstrates Jackson’s undemocratic values; showing the trails the Native American as he forces Native Americans to move and not be allowed a say in the government’s decisions on moving west. In source E, Andrew Jackson shows his democracy by wanting to help the Natives. This example is of Andrew Jackson suggestion to congress for moving all tribes west to one area to keep them from all becoming extinct. This suggestion is made official when Andrew Jackson creates the Indian Removal Act. Source L is the letters written by Jackson to his wife about the adoption of a young Native American boy without any other family. This is proof that Jackson does not have any personal grudge against Natives; he just fought...
Words: 705 - Pages: 3
...The east’s view of the west was highly influenced by famous old west movies and stories from the mouths of others. People’s views of the west were altered, which in turn caused many misunderstandings of how the west really was. There was often not accurate representation of what happened to the Native Americans, for example movies never gave a very accurate representation. This gave people the wrong idea on how they lived. People killed off their food and cut off their supplies. In addition to that, they were also forced to move from their own land, which isn’t morally right. In the end, they were more known of, but not enough about since westerners pushed them away. The west may have seemed like an amazing place to live, but as previously...
Words: 339 - Pages: 2
...itself and other societies is directly correlated with its historical past. The way government, politics, and culture reacts to prejudice, war, and controversy, all ties to past events that molded into a sense of nationalism and tolerance of other societies. As history changes overtime our views of ourselves and others also change, creating our societies “narratives of origin” (Moscovici, 1988). A fundamental representation of our nation’s origin and aspirations are influenced by the changing circumstances, which guides modern society’s response to new challenges. Change in civilizations is sparked from societal wrongs that cause a civil up-roar. Court cases provide the best historical evidence of how the past can redefine present culture. Since the civil war, African Americans role within the nation has changed drastically from a slave to the President of the United States. Monumental cases like Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, along with mass protests across the United States; all influenced the civil rights of African Americans. Another case that shaped our civilization was from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Due to negligence of the factory owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, one hundred and forty-five people died in a factory fire because of inaccessibility to fire escapes. This devastation sparked outrage among civilians, and the government of the United States was forced to respond. In October, 1911, in the aftermath of...
Words: 1207 - Pages: 5
...https://www2.palomar.edu/users/mhudelson/StudyGuides/GreekRoman_WA.htmlProf. Goux ART-5 1 June, 2015 The Mandala: A Comparison of Tibetan Buddhist and Native America Culture Early non-western thought often revolved around the concept of cyclical time. The circularity (a perfection that can never truly be attained in reality due the inevitable variation on the most infinitesimal level) was commonly represented in art and could often be intended to represent cyclical time or the cyclical nature of the world. Mandalas, which are literally translated as circles of essence, were used to represent a sense of order that seemed apparent in the universe at the time of ancient humans. Now, this thought should not be thought of as primitive, like most early western historians would inaccurately assume. The cyclical time and circular order of the universe seemed to be inherent in the common lives of early civilizations, and they simply applied their own form of logic to make predictions about the world around them. So, at its core, this can be considered quite advanced. The most renowned forms of mandalas are apparent in Hinduism and subsequently Buddhism; however, it is now clear that Native Americans also created such “mandalas” with similar social and religious applications. The Native American circles of essence were essentially medicine wheels (although many circular spiritual forms of art existed also). With this regard the Mandala will be related to the medicine wheel. In addition...
Words: 1436 - Pages: 6
...Washington Redskins Logo The Washington Redskins are a football team in the NFL (National Football League). Their logo and mascot is a Native American Indian. Using Native Americans names or symbols by non-native people is a form of controlling images and the three pillars of white supremacy in particular colonialism (Erickson, 2017). The Washington’s team logo/mascot could be considered harmful due to the nature of the image. For instance, the word “redskin” can be perceived derogatory. It is believed that it came from early American settlers that referenced the skin color of Native Americans thus creating “redskin”. This logo and mascot are being appropriated from the Native American Culture, and the “redskin” term should be a legitimately...
Words: 444 - Pages: 2
