Tag Archives: Cultural appropriation

Cultural Appropriation in Sports – M3 P3

As I was reading about cultural appropriation, many of the situations found were about sports teams and their chosen mascot. This is interesting to me as I coach many sports, watch many sports and am overall interested in the world of sports. At school, our mascot is a warrior and it was only around 7 years ago that the logo for this mascot was changed from an Indigenous person in a traditional head dress to an arrow with feathers hanging off of it. This was before my time but apparently there was work completed with Indigenous folks and Elders in the community to ensure the use of the arrow and feather was appropriate for our school. There are so many examples of this within sports communities:

  • Cleveland Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians (baseball) https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-chief-wahoos-removal-a-blow-against-cultural-appropriation
  • Edmonton Eskimos are now the Edmonton Elk (football) https://globalnews.ca/news/7201833/edmonton-eskimos-football-team-name-change/
  • Washington Redskins are now the Washington Commanders (football) https://hhsepitaph.com/10670/sports/nfl-team-rebranded-washington-football-team-in-response-to-cultural-appropriation/
  • Kansas City Chiefs… not renamed however changed their mascot (football) https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/1021373125/kansas-city-chiefs-removed-their-offensive-mascot-but-have-no-plans-to-change-na
  • Chicago Blackhawks have no plans to change their name (hockey) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2899256-blackhawks-wont-change-name-plan-to-raise-awareness-of-native-american-culture

With so many examples of this appropriation in high profile organizations, it’s no wonder that the issue of cultural appropriation needs to constantly be addressed with our students and in our communities. After realizing how much of Indigenous culture is appropriated, I feel as though the section in my final project Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation will be an important one.

The 3 P’s of Cultural Appropriation – M2 P4

Kayne Kawaski is a Cultural Commentator and Black History educator from Peckham, London. In this 2022 TedTalk, he discusses the toolkit that he has created to help people in conversations on sensitive issues related to culture and race.

Kawaski’s 3 P’s of Cultural Appropriation are:

  • Property
  • Privilege
  • Profit

Though not directly linked to Indigenous experience, Kawaski’s discussion can be used as a way for settler educators to reflect on the ways in which they incorporate Indigenous perspectives into their teachings.

Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation – M2 P3

As settler educators, when incorporating Indigenous perspectives into our pedagogy, we need to pay attention to the ways in which we do this. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) released a document titled, Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation in 2019 that highlighted many of the key differences between the two. A few quick takeaways from the document include:

  • “In terms of cultural teachings, it is not appropriate for educators to teach a culture that is not their own. Rather they should make connections with the Indigenous community itself to share their cultural knowledge.” (p. 9)
  • “Cultural appropriation is taking and using Indigenous images, ideas, knowledge and material for purposes that hurt or damage the Indigenous community from which it belongs. Cultural appreciation uses this knowledge to benefit, build and partner with the Indigenous community from where it comes from.” (p. 9)
  • “As part of the continued and collective learning about cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation, it is important that educators self-reflect on their own identity in relation to power and privilege.” (p. 10)
  • “When learning about other cultural groups it is a good practice to constantly selfreflect on your own culture and identity. Everyone is coming with experiences from diverse backgrounds and it is through story that people can relate to one another.” (p. 16)
  • “It is important to recognize that our intention can be different from our impact when we engage with a culture that is not our own.” (p. 17)

One of the challenges I hear about frequently among settler educators is that they would like to bring in Elders or Knowledge Keepers to speak with their students but are not sure where to start or what is “appropriate.” Pages 13 and 14 of this document discuss Indigenous traditions and engagement protocols giving educators a starting point.