Month: February 2021

My essay is about how Native American’s are represented through graphic design with the design of logos, colors, and team names for American sports teams, and how it is wrong to paint a picture of a people that is not genuine to what the mascot represents. 

Source 1:

Title: The Native American Mascot Controversy: A Handbook

Author: C. Richard King 

Author Bio: 

C. Richard King is a professor at Washington State University where he teaches Cultural Anthropology as well as Critical Race Studies. He graduated from the University of Kansas where he earned a B.A. and an M.A. in cultural anthropology. King has written extensively on the topic of Native American struggles in modern America and struggles over “Indianness” in public culture. He has written multiple books on the topic of Native American mascots in American sports, especially about the formerly-named Washington Redskins. This is key since my topic is Racism in Design as in offensive logos of teams such as Washington or the Cleveland Indians. 

Content Summary: 

The Native American Mascot Controversy by C. Richard King gives an overview of how racist and Anti-Indian logos, team names, and mascots have come to be and stuck around for the past 40 years. King links the history of these mascots with the ongoing struggles of Native American activism, as well as challenges the “honor” that the team names and logos of such teams as the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians represent with their offensive image. The text includes additional sources on the topic, such as Jay Rosenstein’s 2015 film “In Whose Honor?” which I have since watched and took notes on. King drives home the way these mascots are represented, usually as villainous males clad in comically red skin and are seen as a savage beast that should be beaten by their opponents like the Dallas Cowboys for example. King directs these opinions towards the reader as if he is calling the youth to action to fight against these racist athletic organizations. Overall, the text gave a nice overview of the controversy but did not go into enough detail for my liking. The additional sources that King provides to support his reasonings were one of the most helpful aspects of this book.

MLA Citation: 

King, C. Richard. The Native American Mascot Controversy: a Handbook. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 

Source 2:

Title: Redskins?: Sports Mascots, Indian Nations, and White Racism

Author: James V. Fenelon 

Author Bio:

James Fenelon is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies at California State University. Fenelon has written on the ethical and racial issues that have come about with how the representation of Native Americans in pop-culture has developed over the years. Fenelon is Lakota/Dakota from Standing Rock (Nation) and has taught internationally to various indigenous peoples about their history and the history of other indigenous peoples. 

Content Summary:

Fenelon goes into great detail about the Washington Redskins team name, more detail than C. Richard King. Fenelon goes in-depth about the origins of the names of various professional and college sports teams around the country but especially that of the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians. He suggests that the fact that these logos and mascots have been accepted is tied to the fact that most Americans are denying the impact of four centuries of colonial domination and indigenous genocide. In addition to his hot-button writing, Fenelon provides statements and direct quotes from multiple interviews he has done with people about the “Redskins” and “Indians” names. Just like C. Richard King, Fenelon also goes into detail about how a majority of media portray these mascots: as savage opponents that must be defeated. Fenelon suggests that these teams and leagues should actually portray Native Americans as warriors and as symbols of a most-forgotten people. This would go along with my topic well as I feel if sports teams use Native Americans as mascots, the design and execution of their portrayal should be done by an Indigenous designer to provide a tribute to their heritage instead of a racist cartoon figure like Cleveland’s “Chief Wahoo”.

MLA Citation: 

Fenelon, James V. Redskins?: Sports Mascots, Indian Nations and White Racism. Routledge, 2017. 

Source 3:

Title: Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indian Mascots

Author: Carol Spindel

Author Bio: 

Carol Spindel is a writer and activist from Urbana, Illinois. She has lived, worked for, and written about the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. She has accepted that she lives on a land that was stolen from innocent people and continues to find and tell the stories of those ancient peoples. Spindel has also taught creative nonfiction to undergraduates at the University of Illinois. She is a longtime ACLU activist and has worked with Native and civil rights organizations  to urge schools and universities to retire mascots, logos, and team names based on stereotypes of American Indians.

Content Summary: 

Spindel goes to great lengths to paint a picture of how Native Americans are perceived and shaped by the average American’s imagination. She writes about how some stereotypes of Native culture were completely fabricated by American cinema and other media, as well as how racist sports logos and team names shape a narrative of the Native American people that damages their true identity. Spindel, in particular, explores her own college, the University of Illinois, and the institution’s odd fixation on Chief Illiniwek, the school’s longtime mascot. She looks into artifacts of the university that paint an even worse picture for Native Americans, such as old football programs, yearbooks, as well as old wild west-style photographs. She interviews various lawyers, linguists, and university alumni on their perception of the U of I’s mascot and what it represents. I found this book to be unique in the fact that it highlights the aspect of college mascots over professional ones, as the college mascot controversies do not make the press as much as the NFL and MLB team names. Spindel shows that in the US, Native Americans are painted as “symbolic servants” and can be a cheap way to represent and “honor” a culture of damaged people. 

MLA Citation: 

Spindel, Carol. Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy Over American Indian Mascots. New York University Press, 2002. 

Source 4:

Title: The Demise of Native American Mascots: It’s time to do the right thing

Author: Joyce M Wolburg

Author Bio:

Dr. Joyce M. Wolburg is the Associate Dean and a Professor of Strategic Communication at the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. Wolburg has written on a wide range of topics such as issues associated with the advertising of alcohol and tobacco; public service announcements; risk communication; historical issues in advertising and public relations, and the validity of racial representation in American media. She earned a B.S in Psychology at Old Dominion University, as well as an M.S. and Ph.D. in Communication at the University of Tennessee.

Content Summary:

Joyce M. Wolburg’s The Demise of Native American Mascots: It’s time to do the right thing shows the reader the Native American people’s outlook and opinion on the names, logos, and mascots of American sports teams that have been called racist over the past 80 years. This article actually contains essays by Native Americans that try to teach Non-Natives about how these mascots should be perceived by the media and public. Wolburg also examines the meaning of a Native American “warrior” and what it symbolizes for the culture. She directs this article towards the many sports team owners, marketers, and average fans to show what a jersey of a team such as the Washington Redskins truly represents. Wolburg drives home the fact that the Native culture’s voice needs to be heard in a flood of the “American Dream” mindset and how we need to accept the fact that we single-handedly destroyed a people to make the land we stand on “ours”. This article jumped out to me since it includes the viewpoint on the controversy by those who are targeted by these logos and team names, I feel that the voice of Native Americans needs to be heard in my essay, so I hold this article in high regard amongst my long list of sources.

MLA Citation:

Wolburg, Joyce M. “The Demise of Native American Mascots: It’s Time to Do the Right Thing.” Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 23, no. 1, 2006, pp. 4–5., doi:10.1108/07363760610641109.

Personally, I do not know how to design with an environmental mindset yet. I feel that every single way we live is somehow damaging a part of the environment. Everything from using the internet, printing, painting, anything that has to do with my methods of coming up with little doo-dads and logos are going to kill a minuscule part of our beloved planet. Hopefully, in the coming times, I will learn of various ways to better help my designs ethically. If I worked for myself I would make sure all of my paper is approved to be environmentally grown, cut, and manufactured, I would also use inks that are approved and would not be dumped into our beautiful waters, stuff like that would add up and hopefully my “design footprint” would be less than it is now.

Designers can also spread awareness about climate change and sustainability through social design. I feel that designers have a great deal of responsibility in spreading awareness on environmental issues as well as taking these challenges head-on with various methods of design and manufacturing. Designers have the power to spread awareness about these topics through many mediums, such as social media, posters, blogs, videos, and many other mediums.

I guess something that can be considered a piece of design is the work of Patagonia. I love their outlooks on sustainability and that they are always checking themselves on their past mistakes. I remember one year they ran an ad (which they rarely do) in a huge national paper with a picture of one of their jackets and in huge bold letters saying “Don’t buy this jacket”. They were trying to urge the average American consumer to only buy Patagonia products (and probably other products) when they are absolutely needed. They also champion reliability, repairing old items, and ethical manufacturing methods. They introduced these nearly 30 years ago and were immediately criticized by the media and other clothing brands, but Patagonia stuck through the possible financial struggles of more expensive manufacturing progress and eventually made a perfect name for themselves in the name of quality gear and clothing.

Overall, I feel that the human race will somehow come through the problems of climate change. I mean, who doesn’t love a Cinderella story? I love an underdog, and I feel that it is a huge privilege to be alive when we possibly can accomplish the biggest upset of all: saving our asses.

Eventually, design and the ever-changing topic of politics were bound to collide at some point. I feel that this can be a good thing. I feel like designers/artists can be ignored, embraced, or patronized depending on how a political movement or political party reacts to them. When I think about it, I feel that in the US liberal parties and movements are much more dedicated to the arts than more conservative movements. Which would make sense, since most of us designers and artists just so happen to be of a liberal background.

For example, when you look at Republican vs. Democratic design for running for office, promoting an agenda, or just simple branding, the Democratic designs tend to be… a lot better. Now, I am not saying that conservative design is bad, but in my opinion, it is definitely boring. In the grand scheme of things, I feel that liberal design will always be more artful, bold, and successful than a conservative party.

The simple fact is we were embraced by the left and dismissed by the right. Maybe Deann is right in saying that there needs to be more conservative designers, even though the words “more conservative” makes me a bit nervous.

Looking back on the past, I feel like some of the greatest impacts in design history were a product of politics. Just look at the two World Wars, amazing movements like the Bauhaus, De Stijl, Art Nouveau, Modernism, Futurism, Cubism, and many others came out of that short span of time. Some of these movements were even embraced by countries and used as a branding of their heritage (Constructivism, Futurism).

Moving stateside, we look at great movements like the WPA. This gave the struggling artists of the Great Depression jobs that created some of the greatest landmarks in this country (looking at you Timberline Lodge, you sweet bastard). I believe there should be more government programs to employ the weirdos a.k.a. artists, musicians, designers, writers, and hell even sculptors to have a good job so we can afford an $1800 studio apartment in lowly Portland, Oregon.

I feel that the world is in need of us artists right now, everything is so depressing in the media. Without art and design, the world would be one hell of a boring place. No matter if your candidate is wearing a red or blue tie, art needs to be embraced by both. You would be surprised by how much power an artist can wield at the end of their paintbrush, or the Pen Tool in their Adobe Illustrator. Personally, the initial thought of art fused with politics made me grimace. After the past few years however, I actually do see a need for it now and whole-heartedly believe that we represent the people more than our beloved politicians who are running for office.