Please join the Native American Cultural Programs (NACP) tomorrow, October 10th from 5:30-7:30 PM for a film screening on "Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting," an event being held for Indigenous Peoples Week 2023.
This feature length film is a comprehensive examination of the movement to eradicate the words, images, and gestures that many Native peoples and their allies find demeaning and offensive. The film takes a deep-dive into the issues through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the fight. The psychological research is clear that the use of Native mascots is deterimental, not only to Native people, but to marginalized groups everywhere.
The film exlores the genesis of exploitation of Native culture in competitive sports, including the use of names and logos featuring Indians that have been adopted by teams and franchises with no apparent connection to the tribes and peoples whose cultural they are appropraiting. It addresses academic literature that suggests the proliferation of stereotypial Native imagery in sports promulgates stereotyping and derogatory labeling of other minority culture, particularly those of color.
"Imagining the Indian" provides an account of the genocidal history of Native peoples on this continent, and its role in proliferating negative stereotyping in sports, movies, and television
For more information, contact: Samantha Gove at samantha.gove@uconn.edu