Icons devalue image, said survey of high schoolers

The use of American Indian mascots may lower the self-esteem in American Indian students and skew the way they view their community, according to a UA professor's study.

Stephanie Fryberg, an assistant professor of psychology, described her findings about whether or not the use of American Indian mascots for schools and sports teams pays tribute or is offensive to American Indian students.

Fryberg's study asked high school students how seeing images like Disney's Pocahontas and the mascot of the Cleveland Indians of the National Baseball League, Chief Wahoo, influenced their self-esteem as opposed to how they felt about themselves after filling out a questionnaire without seeing either image.

The results showed that after being shown the images of Pocahontas and Chief Wahoo, the students had lower self-esteem than students who did not see the images.

An additional part of the survey tested how the American Indian students viewed their communities after seeing those images, with the result being that students who saw the images valued their community less than those who didn't see the pictures, Fryberg said.

Even with these findings, students said they would rather have their likeness portrayed as a mascot than completely invisible in the media, Fryberg said.

"Most students said they would rather be a mascot than be invisible," Fryberg said.

Danielle Harris, an elementary education senior who attended the speech for a class called Schooling In America, said after learning about the study, she is going to make an effort to be more aware of how American Indians feel ignored.

"I can use that in my teaching and make an effort to not ignore a group," Harris said.

Marecia McClune, an elementary education junior, said she didn't think the topic was current but hoped it would relate to her as an educator.

"It seems like an old subject that has already been debated," McClune said. "It's not at the forefront of people's minds. I don't think too many people are concerned about it anymore."

McClune said she thinks every racial group needs representation; it's not just limited to American Indians and the mascots that portray them.