PULLMAN, Wash. – C. Richard King, Washington State University professor, will join other commentators, authors and sports representatives for a live broadcast from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian on Thursday, Feb. 7. Rescheduled from last November due to effects from Hurricane Sandy, the event will include a series of panel discussions on racist stereotypes and cultural appropriation in American sports.King, WSU professor in critical culture, gender and race studies, will be on the first panel, beginning at 7:30 a.m. PST, discussing the origin myths behind mascots. He also will participate in a filmed oral history interview the next day on the same subject.
The webcast will explore the mythology and psychology of sports stereotypes and mascots. It will examine collegiate retirement of Native American sports references and some recent efforts to revive them despite the NCAA’s policy against “hostile and abusive” names and symbols.
For example, King said, Eastern Michigan University restored its “Huron” moniker to appeal to alumni while retaining the new eagle mascot.
“The unique compromise and how it side-stepped NCAA policy is bound to generate lively debate,” he said. “Eastern Michigan University reminds us, on the one hand, how crucial school symbols are to individual and institutional identities and, on the other hand, how resilient stereotypes are long after analysis demonstrates how they misconstrue and hurt those they represent.
“More broadly, it may set a troubling precedent for other colleges and universities that long ago retired a mascot and thought they had put this divisive issue behind them,” he said.
The panel will include a “community conversation about the name and logo of the Washington, D.C., professional football organization,” according to the museum website.
“To date, there have been no actions by any professional league to modify, revise or ban the use of American Indian imagery,” King said.
The National Museum of the American Indian regularly hosts intellectual and cultural events and symposia that include a select group of scholars and advocates, King said.
For a schedule of topics, list of panel members or to register for the webcast, go to http://nmai.si.edu/multimedia/webcasts/.