S1E07 Unabridged: Indigenous Mascots

Foreword

Welcome to the first of two special episodes of Foreword that we’re calling Unabridged. In these episodes we’ll be bringing you the full conversation I had with one of our researchers.

This episode you’ll hear our full conversation with Dr. Jason Black, Fulbright researcher with the Centre for Canadian Studies, recorded in February 2020. We wanted to bring you this conversation because Jason explains important concepts that come up in many academic disciplines and popular media, such as coloniality, decolonization, and identity. He shares how he became interested in activism and the Indigenous mascot controversy, why the language and imagery we use to talk about Indigenous issues matters, and how non-Indigenous folks can engage with these issues.

Dr. Jason Black was the 2020 Fulbright Research Chair in Transnational Studies with the Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock University. He visited from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he is a professor and the chairperson. He holds a PhD in Rhetorical Studies from the University of Maryland and has researched and published extensively on rhetoric and discourse around LGTBQ and Indigenous activist movements. His most recent publications include Mascot Nation: The Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports (co-authored with Andrew Billings) and Decolonizing Native American Rhetoric: Communicating Self-Determination. While at Brock, he taught CANA3V92 “Social Activism and Culture in Canada and the United States.”

Find a full transcript at https://brocku.ca/humanities/foreword

Links

Mascot Nation: The Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports (co-authored with Andrew Billings, University of Illinois Press, 2018)

Decolonizing Native American Rhetoric: Communicating Self-Determination (co-edited with Casey Ryan Kelly, Peter Lang Publishing, 2018)

Brock welcomes Fulbright Chair in Transnational Studies (Brock News)

Superbowl reignites debate over Chiefs' name (Brock News)

Professor says SuperBowl will reignite conversation around 'controversial' Chiefs name (CBC Hamilton)

Why won't the Kansas City Chiefs change their logo and symbols (CBC Here and Now)

Centre for Canadian Studies, Brock University

Credits

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Foreword is hosted and produced by Alison Innes for the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.

Sound design and editing by Serena Atallah. Theme music is by Khalid Imam.

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This podcast is financially supported by the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.