Native American Influence – State Names, Words, and Sports Team Mascots

Native American Influence – State Names, Words, and Sports Team Mascots

Native American State Names: Alabama, Illinois, Connecticut, Idaho, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky.
Native American Words: Avocado from ahuácatl, Piranha from pirátsainha, Jaguar from jaguar. Native American Cities and Rivers: Cherokee, Miami, Lakota/Dakota; Choctaw and Mohawk; and Bald Eagle, Pennsylvania – Seneca.

Native American College and Professional Sports Team Names and Mascots: Garland Aztecs, Garland, Texas – Semi-Pro; Mayas CDMX (Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional) – Mexico City, Mexico; and Spanktown Boyz – which uses as its logo, a Native American wielding a tomahawk.

What does the proliferation of these Native American-related team names and mascots say about Americans’ perceptions of Native Americans?

Native iconology may be seen as evidence of the continued racism that is meted out to the said ethnic group. Although it appears to be a matter of little importance to the average American, there are those who perceive the involvement of racism and the unwillingness to right this wrong (Lyne, N. 2019). This is also viewed as an indication of the Western Euro-American culture’s failure to understand the effect the use of Native iconology has on Native Indians in the US. In the US, there are close to 5 professional sports teams that use iconology in hockey, baseball, and football (Hart, 2011). On the other hand, teams do not use team names and mascots that represent other races in minority groups such as Latinos, African Americans, and Asians. The question arises as to whether the use of images and terms related to Native American traditions and culture for team logos, mascots, nicknames, and names is an insult or an honor. Significant research has been conducted on sports teams using Native iconology. Williams (2007), however, showed in his study that Native Americans considered traditional and cultural iconology by sports teams as an insult.

Are there certain parts of the country where these Native American team names and mascots are more prevalent than others?

States such as Alaska, Alabama, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Boston, among others, are known to adopt Native American names for their teams and mascots. This is indicative of the South side of the US having a greater tendency than the North. Although most of the teams defended their use of these names as a way of honoring the Native Indians, the Native Indians believed that it was a way of exhibiting white supremacy over their cultures. According to the Census Bureau, the 2003 estimates indicated that over a third of the total population of Native American origin lived in Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. As of 2006, less than 1% of the total Native Pacific Islanders of Hawaiian descent was distributed unevenly over 26 States (Warren & Warren, 2013). The majority of these States also have schools and education intuitions that have teams and mascots that are rooted in Native Indian culture. As mentioned earlier, while the educational institutions do it to honor the culture of the latter, the same is not perceived by the Natives.

References

Hart, S. (2011). Native American Mascots: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of Students’ Acceptability Perceptions of Native Mascots Versus Theoretical Use of Other Ethnic Groups’ Iconology by Sports Teams. McNair Scholars Research Journal, 7(1), 8.

Lyne, N. (2019). In Whose Honour?: Understanding Native American Sports Mascots, the Washington Redskins, and the Divisive Online Discourse About Them.

Warren, R., & Warren, J. R. (2013). Unauthorized immigration to the United States: Annual estimates and components of change, by state, 1990 to 2010. International Migration Review, 47(2), 296-329.

Williams, D. (2007). Where’s the honor? Attitudes toward the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. Sociology of Sports Journal, 24, 437-456.

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One of the legacies of the many tribes that first inhabited the Americas is the long list of Native American words and place names still in use today. Have students conduct simple internet research to discover Native Americans:
State Names
Native American Words
Native American Cities and Rivers, etc.
Native American College and Professional Sports Team Names and Mascots:

What does the proliferation of these Native American-related team names and mascots say about Americans’ perceptions of Native Americans? Are there certain parts of the country where these Native American team names and mascots are more prevalent than others? Why or why not?