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Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indian Mascots
A persuasive and compassionate analysis of the appropriation of Native American culture in sports
Sports fans love to don paint and feathers to cheer on the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Florida State Seminoles, and the Warriors and Chiefs of their hometown high schools. But outside the stadiums, American Indians aren't cheering―they're yelling racism.
School boards and colleges are bombarded with emotional demands from both sides, while professional teams find themselves in court defending the right to trademark their Indian names and logos. In the face of opposition by a national anti-mascot movement, why are fans so determined to retain the fictional chiefs who plant flaming spears and dance on the fifty-yard line?
To answer this question, Dancing at Halftime takes the reader on a journey through the American imagination where our thinking about American Indians has been, and is still being, shaped. Dancing at Halftime is the story of Carol Spindel's determination to understand why her adopted town is so passionately attached to Chief Illiniwek, the American Indian mascot of the University of Illinois. She rummages through our national attic, holding dusty souvenirs from world's fairs and wild west shows, Edward Curtis photographs, Boy Scout handbooks, and faded football programs up to the light. Outside stadiums, while American Indian Movement protestors burn effigies, she listens to both activists and the fans who resent their attacks. Inside hearing rooms and high schools, she poses questions to linguists, lawyers, and university alumni.
A work of both persuasion and compassion, Dancing at Halftime reminds us that in America, where Pontiac is a car and Tecumseh a summer camp, Indians are often our symbolic servants, functioning as mascots and metaphors that express our longings to become "native" Americans, and to feel at home in our own land.
Sports fans love to don paint and feathers to cheer on the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, the Florida State Seminoles, and the Warriors and Chiefs of their hometown high schools. But outside the stadiums, American Indians aren't cheering―they're yelling racism.
School boards and colleges are bombarded with emotional demands from both sides, while professional teams find themselves in court defending the right to trademark their Indian names and logos. In the face of opposition by a national anti-mascot movement, why are fans so determined to retain the fictional chiefs who plant flaming spears and dance on the fifty-yard line?
To answer this question, Dancing at Halftime takes the reader on a journey through the American imagination where our thinking about American Indians has been, and is still being, shaped. Dancing at Halftime is the story of Carol Spindel's determination to understand why her adopted town is so passionately attached to Chief Illiniwek, the American Indian mascot of the University of Illinois. She rummages through our national attic, holding dusty souvenirs from world's fairs and wild west shows, Edward Curtis photographs, Boy Scout handbooks, and faded football programs up to the light. Outside stadiums, while American Indian Movement protestors burn effigies, she listens to both activists and the fans who resent their attacks. Inside hearing rooms and high schools, she poses questions to linguists, lawyers, and university alumni.
A work of both persuasion and compassion, Dancing at Halftime reminds us that in America, where Pontiac is a car and Tecumseh a summer camp, Indians are often our symbolic servants, functioning as mascots and metaphors that express our longings to become "native" Americans, and to feel at home in our own land.
308 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 24, 2011
It has often been noted that the problem with stereotypes is not that they are wrong, but that they are incomplete: while that is true, in the case of Native American sports teams names and mascots the stereotypes become caricatures that demean and insult. I am often surprised (although I shouldn't be) at how pervasive the derogation of indigenous peoples is, and how immune to that derogation many people are (as I was reading this book – in November 2009 – my favoured UK newspaper, the liberal Guardian, made an offhand and ironic reference to 'redskins' in an obituary: this is something it would never do for 'darkies', or 'wops').
I am equally surprised, as an outsider, at the extent of shameless derogation of Native Americans in US public schools and universities. In this marvellous book, Carol Spindel takes the controversy over Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois (his supporters say he is not a mascot, but an honoured symbol, as if that makes the ongoing appropriation OK) and teases out the cultural politics of indigenousness in the US, and the hard fought politics of Native American and other oppostion to racist iconography, cultural theft, and abuse in sports mascots.
Engaging and lucidly presented, she takes us inside some extremely complex cultural debates and history in a clear, straightforward and powerful way, with a good sense of the people in the struggle and the scholarly material that folks like me like to back up these struggles. Highly recommended.
I am equally surprised, as an outsider, at the extent of shameless derogation of Native Americans in US public schools and universities. In this marvellous book, Carol Spindel takes the controversy over Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois (his supporters say he is not a mascot, but an honoured symbol, as if that makes the ongoing appropriation OK) and teases out the cultural politics of indigenousness in the US, and the hard fought politics of Native American and other oppostion to racist iconography, cultural theft, and abuse in sports mascots.
Engaging and lucidly presented, she takes us inside some extremely complex cultural debates and history in a clear, straightforward and powerful way, with a good sense of the people in the struggle and the scholarly material that folks like me like to back up these struggles. Highly recommended.
August 5, 2014
This book recently came to mind as I was thinking about the ongoing controversy regarding the disgraceful adherence to the racist name/logo of the Washington Redskins by its unrepentant owner and rabid fanbase. While the Cleveland Indians may still have Chief Wahoo, and he's even worse, that's Cleveland and I don't have very high expectations for the state of Ohio, anyway. I do, however, expect more from my nation's capital.
Signs of progress appeared earlier this summer when the U.S. Patent Office canceled the Redskins' trademark. And if anything will make a racist see the error of his ways, it will be related to his pocketbook and not his sense of dignity or shame. So I remain hopeful that the Redskins moniker will be gone long before I am.
After all, back when this book came out in 2000, hardcore Illini fans were adamant that Chief Illiniwek would be dancing at halftime for all eternity, and they sneered at aggrieved Native Americans and bleeding heart liberals saying they could all go whistle up a tree. But seven short years later the Chief was retired, relegated to the dustbin of history where he long deserved to be years and years before the board of trustees voted to put him there.
Spindel's book explores the use of Native American mascots in the U.S. and in particular examines the history of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois. Perhaps there's little reason to read the book now that the Chief is gone, but the controversy over Indian mascots remains what with the ongoing situation with the Redskins and Chief Wahoo and plenty of other small-town high schools across America. And I'm sure many Illini fans wistfully long for the return of the Chief and are hatching schemes about returning him to a place of prominence at the university. Illinois is not a particularly enlightened state, but I'm fairly confident we won't be going down that shameful road again.
Despite living in Illinois, I'm no member of the Illini, so no doubt alumni of that benighted clan will say I just don't get it. My own allegiance is to the Big 10 school farther north in the state, and I always thought the Chief was pretty damn goofy looking anyway, let alone being a symbol of ongoing intolerance and bigotry. But if someone somewhere claimed that Willie the Wildcat was offensive to his culture or heritage, I'd let Willie go without a peep of complaint.
Maybe you'd say my sense of school pride doesn't run very deep. And maybe you'd be right. But I try not to be a bigot, either, so I guess I've got that going for myself...
Signs of progress appeared earlier this summer when the U.S. Patent Office canceled the Redskins' trademark. And if anything will make a racist see the error of his ways, it will be related to his pocketbook and not his sense of dignity or shame. So I remain hopeful that the Redskins moniker will be gone long before I am.
After all, back when this book came out in 2000, hardcore Illini fans were adamant that Chief Illiniwek would be dancing at halftime for all eternity, and they sneered at aggrieved Native Americans and bleeding heart liberals saying they could all go whistle up a tree. But seven short years later the Chief was retired, relegated to the dustbin of history where he long deserved to be years and years before the board of trustees voted to put him there.
Spindel's book explores the use of Native American mascots in the U.S. and in particular examines the history of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois. Perhaps there's little reason to read the book now that the Chief is gone, but the controversy over Indian mascots remains what with the ongoing situation with the Redskins and Chief Wahoo and plenty of other small-town high schools across America. And I'm sure many Illini fans wistfully long for the return of the Chief and are hatching schemes about returning him to a place of prominence at the university. Illinois is not a particularly enlightened state, but I'm fairly confident we won't be going down that shameful road again.
Despite living in Illinois, I'm no member of the Illini, so no doubt alumni of that benighted clan will say I just don't get it. My own allegiance is to the Big 10 school farther north in the state, and I always thought the Chief was pretty damn goofy looking anyway, let alone being a symbol of ongoing intolerance and bigotry. But if someone somewhere claimed that Willie the Wildcat was offensive to his culture or heritage, I'd let Willie go without a peep of complaint.
Maybe you'd say my sense of school pride doesn't run very deep. And maybe you'd be right. But I try not to be a bigot, either, so I guess I've got that going for myself...
January 27, 2025
In 1944 my uncle, Kenneth Hanks was Chief Illiniwek. My Dad's family was very proud of this fact and I heard about it all the time while growing up. My Dad and Uncle's Grandmother was also a full blooded Cherokee from Oklahoma. However, the family never talked about this, until several years prior to his death my Dad admitted it to my sister. Upon meeting her future father-in-law my Mom had even asked my Dad about the family's Native American heritage. My Dad denied having Native blood to her. My Mom's Native American blood is to a smaller degree but she had been raised my her father to be extremely proud of her Native heritage.
My view of this book and my stand on the issue of Native American mascots is therefore based on this comment, "My Dad's family was more proud of being a pretend Indian than having actual Native American blood." Let that sink in.
My view of this book and my stand on the issue of Native American mascots is therefore based on this comment, "My Dad's family was more proud of being a pretend Indian than having actual Native American blood." Let that sink in.
January 15, 2009
If anyone has any question of why mascots are so offensive, I couldn't recommend this book highly enough. It does a great job of explaining the arguments for and against. Just wonderful.
May 14, 2013
Interesting look at the controversy surrounding sports mascots and their negative portrayal of various cultures, particularly the Native American Indians.
May 9, 2024
Carol Spindel is a retired Lecturer of English and Global Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Spindel’s book published Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indians Mascot in 2000. The book mainly focuses on the use of the Chief Illiniwek as a mascot by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign between October 1926 and February 2007. The book covers a lot of ground. The book is part history, anthropology, American Indian Studies, and a memoir. Spindel is interested in the book, in both why many Native Americans found Chief Illiniwek deeply offensive, but also why many mainly White students and alumni were deeply attached to Chief Illiniwek. The book is interested in why Americans and White Americans as of 2000 loved American Indian Mascots. I enjoyed the history of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in Spindel’s book. I am a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. To truly understand the Chief Illiniwek, Spindel believes a reader has to understand the ideology and history of the origins of the Chief Illiniwek. The book also briefly covers several other controversies of American Indian Mascots. The book has black-and-white illustrations. The book has a “selected bibliography” (Spindel 279-283) and a “bibliographic essay” (Spindel 275-278). I found Carol Spindel’s book, Dancing at Halftime to be a well-written account and a well-done account of the controversy around Chief Illiniwek. I found the Goodreads review by Penny useful in writing this ‘review.’
September 25, 2014
This book gave a fairly good overview of the mascot controversy (the main focus the re-incarnation of the 1990s). I suppose I was expecting more of an academic historical book, and while there was history there was a lot of first person point of view. Still good, not what I was expecting. The main reason it got 3 stars rather than 4 was that it overwhelmingly focused on Chief Illiniwek of the University of Illinois. Expected, given that he was the impetus behind Ms. Spindel writing the book, a bit misleading given the title. I did like the book, and I enjoyed it as a bit of an introduction to the topic, but I wanted more, expected more, and was a bit disappointed. I would still read it again and it's a great book for jumping off points or for using as references but my overall impression was underwhelming.
June 29, 2007
"Racial Stereotypes Dehumanize." Don'cha know? Read it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews