Stereotyping
It’s been a while since our discussion in class on the use of stereotypes in our everyday life. We talked about sports teams, mostly, at least that was the part of the discussion that struck me most. I decided to look into some aboriginal perspectives on the use of these “mascots” by schools/sports teams. I came across a very interesting website that I’ve linked. The main page of the site is an index of a variety of websites about Indian Mascots. Another page I found is a paper of sorts written by a Doctor of Education about the use of stereotypes in schools.
I’ve written above that I “came across” these sites but I should write that they weren’t my own discovery but are on the syllabus for another class of mine.
One of the most interesting things I learned that was common to these 2 websites is the the American Psychological Association’s disapproval of the use of stereotypes. It makes sense of course, but I was so glad to see it said so by this scholarly association. They use words that I really liked to describe the situation: undermining, racist, hostile, unwelcome and negative. They claim that the practice is intolerable, disrespectful, and must be eradicated.
When I was a little kid I heard this argument and agreed with the idea that it honors indigenous people. Later in my teen years I saw an image we discussed in class: a cartoon of the Cleveland Braves logo along side a Cleveland Asians mock-up logo, and a Cleveland Blacks mock-up. I realized at once my mistake and whenever I hear someone saying that it’s okay to use stereotypes to descibe peoples, this is the example I give.
I totally agree with you about the use of aboriginal mascots. It was something I never really thought of until it came up on our class discussion, but it’s disturbing that these mascots are still used without a second thought in a society where overt displays of racism and stereotyping are no longer socially acceptable. I think the example of the Cleveland Asians/Blacks is very illustrative. It’s hard to imagine that either of those potential mascots would be tolerated. This begs the question of why our society is still so accepting of stereotyping indigenous peoples.
I came across this blog posting which I thought you might find interesting. It is short, does not take much time to read, and yet raises some thought provoking questions. Be sure to read the comments readers have made to the posting as they add to the hmm… you may experience. Tracy