Research Catalog

Title

Dancing at halftime : sports and the controversy over American Indian mascots / Carol Spindel.

Author

Spindel, Carol

Publication

New York : New York University Press, c2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 284 p. : ill.; 21 cm.

Summary

• "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, serving as mascots and metaphors that express our longings to become "native" Americans, and to feel at home in our own land."--Jacket.

Uniform Title

Project Muse UPCC books

Subject

• Indians of North America > Social conditions > 20th century
• Sports team mascots > Social aspects > United States
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign > Mascots

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-283).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Home Game -- The Controversy -- Myth and Mascot -- Races of Living Things -- Starved Rock -- That Roughneck Indian Game -- Sons of Modern Illini -- Folded Leaves -- The Wild West -- Chills to the Spine, Tears to the Eyes -- The Speakers Have It All Wrong -- In Whose Honor? -- Signaling -- The Spoils of Victory -- Coloring Books -- What Do I Know about Indians? -- The Wistful Reservoir -- Dancing -- Scandalous and Disparaging -- The Tribe -- A Young Child Speaking -- A Racially Hostile Environment? -- Homecoming -- Video Letters.

ISBN

0814781268 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^00009148^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library