{"product_id":"dancing-at-halftime-sports-and-the-controversy-over-american-indian-mascots-9780814781265","title":"Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy over American Indian Mascots","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 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 arent cheeringtheyre 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 Spindels 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 worlds 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45657937379381,"sku":"ByrdShop_0814781268","price":25.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780814781265.jpg?v=1782059451","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/dancing-at-halftime-sports-and-the-controversy-over-american-indian-mascots-9780814781265","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}