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Cited by 17Indigenous Cultures and HistorySocial Movements and Cultural IdentityPhysical Education and Sports Studies

The Whiteness of Redmen: Indigenous Mascots, Social media and an Antiracist Intervention

Open access
McLean, Sheelah, Wilson, Alex, Lee, Erica·2017·Australasian Journal of Information Systems
DOI 10.3127/ajis.v21i0.1590
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Abstract

Resistance to the use of Indigenous themed mascots in North America has taken a variety of forms over the past several decades. This paper describes and analyses how a new vehicle for resistance, social media, can be integral to dismantling and eradicating racist images of Indigenous peoples. Specifically, this paper focusses on one campaign that questioned a high school sports mascot and team named the “Redmen”. By using examples from social media, the authors demonstrate how White settlers came to rely on the mascot imagery as a way to position themselves as superior and to regulate representations of Indigeneity. The authors’ analysis posits that the mascot is in itself a form of racialised colonial violence and they discuss how the name and mascot were protected by and through white settler surveillance and control. To intervene in this discourse of superiority and regulation, the paper describes how an anti-racist approach was used to design a social media campaign that built mass critical consciousness and a network of support within the community. The social media campaign coincided with and rallied support from the grassroots Indigenous Movement, Idle No More. The larger joint effort strategically and effectively redirected the public and critical focus to how the “Redmen” name and logo and other racist Indigenous mascots become normalised. Increased knowledge via social media catalysed a shift in public opinion which ultimately leads to retirement of the team name, logo and mascot.

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  • Most sport research that includes Native American or Indigenous Peoples debates their presence as mascots or team names, often reducing Native Peoples to symbols and not dynamic communities.

    “Most of the sport research that includes Native American or Indigenous Peoples debates their presence as mascots or team names, often reducing Native Peoples to symbols and not dynamic communities (Hofman, 2005;McLean et al., 2017;Tsosie, 2016).”

    From “It’s Not Just About Competition – It’s Ceremony”: Introducing the Embedded Indigeneity Framework for Understanding Identity, Mission, and Practice in TCU and NASNTI Athletics (2026) · cites this paper as McLean et al., 2017

    The Introduction says mascots collapse diverse Indigenous nations into a caricature, and §2 describes Indigenous people being treated as symbols rather than agents of their own lives. The paper discusses research on mascots, but it does not establish that most sport research concerning Native American or Indigenous Peoples focuses on mascots or team names. Its criticism of reduction primarily concerns the mascots, not the research itself; page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Indigenous women have played an increasingly crucial role in advancing Indigenous Peoples' rights, for example, when fighting the use of Native American mascots in US professional sports.

    “Indigenous women have played an increasingly crucial role in advancing Indigenous Peoples' rights; for example, when fighting the use of Native American mascots in US professional sports (McLean et al. 2017).”

    From Sacred Sites Protection and Indigenous Women’s Activism: Empowering Grassroots Social Movements to Influence Public Policy. A Look into the “Women of Standing Rock” and “Idle No More” Indigenous Movements (2020) · cites this paper as McLean et al. 2017

    Section 5 links the success of the #ChangeRedmen campaign to the increased visibility of Indigenous women and two-spirit people, and says they did the campaign’s early work. Section 2 identifies its target as a high-school mascot in Saskatoon, Canada, not a US professional sports team. The paper therefore supports the example of women’s anti-mascot activism, but not the claimed US professional-sports setting. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 10

  1. Carlson, B. & Frazer, R. (2016) "Indigenous Activism and Social Media: The Global Response to #SOSBLAKAUSTRAIA". In McCosker, A., Vivienne, S., & Johns, A. (eds.), Rethinking Digital Citizenship: Control, Contest and Culture, pp. 115-130, Rowman and Littlefield International, England.
  2. Davis-Delano, L.R. (2007) "Eliminating Native American Mascots: Ingredients for Success", Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 31(4):340-373. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1177.0193723507308251
  3. Dei, G. (1995) "Integrative antiracism: Intersections of race, class and gender", Race, gender & class: Perspective on Canadian Antiracism, 2(3): 11-30.
  4. hooks, b. (1992). "The Oppositional Gaze: The Black Female Spectator" Black Looks, Race and Representation, pp. 115-131, South End Press, Boston.
  5. King, C.R. (2015) "American Indian and Nickname Changes: A Chronology". In C.R. King (ed.), The Native American Mascot Controversy: A Handbook, pp.259-264, Lanham, MA, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
  6. McAdam, S., Wilson, A., & Case, P. (2016) "Idle No More: Current Projects and Future Visions". Presentation at the Native American Indigenous Studies Conference, Honolulu, HI.
  7. St. Denis, V. (2004). "Real Indians: Cultural Revitalization and Fundamentalism in Aboriginal Education". In C. Schick, J. Jaffe, & A.M, Watkinson (eds.), Contesting Fundamentalisms, pp. 35-47, Fernwood, Halifax, NS.
  8. St. Denis, V. (2007) "Feminism is for Everybody: Aboriginal Women, Feminism and Diversity". In J. Green (ed.), Making Space for Indigenous Feminisms, pp. 33-52, Fernwood, Halifax, NS.
  9. Warren, J. (2005) "Bodily Excess and the Desire for Absence: Whiteness and the Making of (Raced) Educational Subjectivies". In B. Alexander, G. Anderson, & B. Gallegos (eds.), Performance Theories in Education: Power, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Identity, pp. 83-106, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
  10. Wilson, A. (2015) "A Steadily beating heart". In E. Coburns (ed.) More Will Sing their Way to Freedom, pp.272-276, Fernwood, Winnipeg, MB.

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Authors
McLean, S., Wilson, A., & Lee, E.
Affiliations
University of Saskatchewan (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Australasian Journal of Information Systems
Publisher
Australasian Association for Information Systems
Published
2017-07-19
Volume
21
ISSN
  • 1039-7841 (ISSN-L)
  • 1449-8618
DOI
10.3127/ajis.v21i0.1590
OpenAlex
W2739470750
Cited by
16
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1
FWCI
3.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • AJIS. Australasian journal of information systems/AJIS. Australian journal of information systems/Australian journal of information systems (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Journal of the Association for Information Systems (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2014-1488)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Movements and Cultural Identity
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Physical Education and Sports Studies
Keywords
whiteness, settler colonialism, social media campaigns, Idle No More, indigenous movements, high school athletics, representation of indigenous peoples, critical consciousness, public opinion change

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