Full Description
The issue of Native American mascots in sports raises passions but also a raft of often-unasked questions. Which voices get a hearing in an argument? What meanings do we ascribe to mascots? Who do these Indians and warriors really represent? Andrew C. Billings and Jason Edward Black go beyond the media bluster to reassess the mascot controversy. Their multi-dimensional study delves into the textual, visual, and ritualistic and performative aspects of sports mascots. Their original research, meanwhile, surveys sports fans themselves on their thoughts when a specific mascot faces censure. The result is a book that merges critical-cultural analysis with qualitative data to offer an innovative approach to understanding the camps and fault lines on each side of the issue, the stakes in mascot debates, whether common ground can exist and, if so, how we might find it.
Contents
CoverTitleCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: For Whom Does the Indian Stand? For Whom Does the Mascot Stand?1. Framing the Mascot through Self-Categorization2. The Native American Mascot in the Western Gaze: Reading the Mascot through a Postcolonial Lens3. Online Debate on the Acceptability of the Washington NFL Mascot4. Deconstructing the Mascot, Part 1: Names and Textual Fields5. Deconstructing the Mascot, Part 2: Visual Symbols6. Deconstructing the Mascot, Part 3: Rituals and Performances7. What Is Lost? The Perceived Stakes of Recent and Potential Mascot Removals8. W(h)ither the Mascot? Pathways through the Logics of Native American MascottingNotesIndex
