Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting

Please join directors Ben West (Cheyenne) and Aviva Kempner, producers Kevin Blackistone and Yancey Burns, and interviewee Rick West (Cheyenne) for a conversation about the misappropriation of Native cultures and an evening film screening of Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting.

The event will be held on Friday, June 30, 3:00–6:30 pm at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) at 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM.

• 3:00–4:30 pm: Film Screening
• 4:30–5:30 pm: Panel Conversation
• 5:30–6:30 pm: Reception

About the film

Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting is a feature-length documentary film that examines the movement to eliminate the use of Native American slurs, names, logos, images, and gestures that many Native Americans and their allies find demeaning and offensive. The film takes a deep dive into the issues through archival footage and interviews with those involved in the fight. The psychological research is clear; the use of Native American mascots is detrimental, not only to Native people but also to marginalized groups everywhere.

For questions, please contact Wayne Nez Gaussoin (Diné, Picuris Pueblo, and French Descent), Museum Educator, at wgaussoin@iaia.edu or (505) 428-5907.