Cultural Appropriation, part N

[ravan]

Which of these sports team names is *not* cultural appropriation?

A. Minnesota Vikings
B. Cleveland Indians
C. Washington Redskins
D. Boston Celtics
E. Golden State Warriors

If you guessed A, D and E, you are biased toward Native Americans. The best answer is E, since multiple cultures and tribes from Europe, America and Asia have warriors, although using "warriors" along with native american caricatures is still offensive.

My point? Just because the culture in question is a so called "white" culture doesn't mean that it's symbols can be misappropriated for trivial purposes that they weren't intended. European culture is not monolithic, and many of us are trying to reclaim the pre-christian cultures from the bland hodgepodge that passes for "western" culture.

By the way, if there's so much equal opportunity borging going on in the sports world, why aren't teams names Samurai, Sikh, and other things?

Comments

[koga.livejournal.com]

Because Samurai and Sikh and Thuggee and so on and so forth..... they are not part of the US culture from which we draw the names for our sports teams.

Irish? US Culture.

Native Americans? AS 'American' Culture as apple pie (Dutch!).

America is the land of many cultures, this much is a fact. I have never seen the Golden State Warriors used with 'Native Amercian' imagry before.

Your question is falacious and misleading as you have clearly laid out that -none- of them, are to your opinion, not appropriation.

Have you considered the large amount of Norse and Sweeds who live in Minnisota? It was settled during a large wave of migration from that area to the forming US. Is it appropriation if the people who can CLAIM that culture name it a thing?

Have you tought aout that?

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

'Oakland Thugs'. There's a name just waiting to be used.

[treecat]

'cept I think it would really be the Oakland Panthers.

Though the Berkeley Racists would be such a hoot!

[treecat]

If you look around my neighborhood, you'll Sikh's becoming quite a part of American culture. More than half of my apt building and the one next door at least.

But yeah, if a group names the team after themselves, it may be stereotypical still, but slightly different than naming it after someone else. Though generally - despite silly stereoptypes in the portrayals - the naming is meant to be a compliment to what it's named after.

I'll probably always be annoyed though that while I was at Sonoma State, there was vote and 'Cossacks' won. We came here to get away from Cossacks! Again it was probably meant as a regional nod to the pre-American Russian settlements in the area (hence Sebastopol and the Russian River).

[ravan.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the ones complaining most bitterly about cultural appropriation, the Native Americans, blithely ignore the cultural appropriation and repurposing of every other group. Because the Irish and Norse are "white" they are therefore somehow a monolithic group with no heritage that isn't free for the taking by anyone - white, black, red, yellow, blue, green or purple.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Years ago, I watched a Mad TV skit where a coalition of Native Americans bought up several pro sports teams and renamed them, so the Washington Redskins became the Washington Rednecks, complete with a buck-toothed, straw-hat wearing bumpkin mascot.

One of the other teams was the Atlanta Braves who got renamed to the "Atlanta Genocidal White Maniacs who Killed our People and Stole our Land".

[ravan.livejournal.com]

Gee, wouldn't that be the San Diego Padres?

[mlion.livejournal.com]

Evergreen College up in Olympia has the geoducks (pronounced "gooeyducks") for a mascot. The idea of having a local species of clam as a mascot pleases me no end - but then again, I'm from the UOregon, whose mascot is the duck.

Interesting post, by the way.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not crazy about the Boston Celtics, they not only misappropriated the name - They MisProunounce IT! With a soft c instead of the K sound. Very Annoying!

I am proud to be a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug! We're Back! We went through a name change when one chancelor felt that Banana Slug wasn't an appropriate mascot. He left, we changed it back. :)

And I'm also a fan of the San Jose Sharks!

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

The local community college here goes by the Fighting Aardvarks. I'm sure there's a story there.