For the Love of Football: The Super Bowl, Indian Mascots, & the Violence of American Football 🏈

All My Relations Podcast

Matika Wilbur & Temryss Lane

Native, Documentary, Pop Culture, Society & Culture, Relationships, Indigenous, Native American, Society, Contemporary Native American Culture

5 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today is the Super Bowl, and while millions gather to watch, we’re here to ask: What are we really watching? In this episode of All My Relations, Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation) and Matika Wilbur (Swinomish & Tulalip) dive into the deep, complex relationship between Native communities and sport. American football is more than just a game—it’s a battlefield. From its origins at the Carlisle Indian School to its modern-day spectacle of billion-dollar profits, colonial metaphors, and racialized ...

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hasla hails, siaya, Nastjalachad Sia, Hathqatitude, good morning relatives, wherever this finds you.
0:08.8	We're really happy you're here with us.
0:10.3	I'm Maitika Wilbur.
0:11.3	This is all my relations.
0:13.1	This is not our normal type of topic or my normal type of topic.
0:16.9	I am not a person that has spent much time on air talking about sport.
0:21.9	I have on the other hand, but the other football.
0:25.8	However, we have an export in sport joining us this season.
0:30.6	And, you know, we haven't really had the chance to get into your expertise, to get into your lifelong love of athletics. So I thought,
0:43.5	how exciting for us, especially given that the Super Bowl is about to be upon us, for us to talk
0:50.3	about sport, specifically American football. And, you know, the fact that this weekend,
0:57.2	two-thirds of the American public will participate in watching the Super Bowl. It's one of the
1:03.9	most broadcasted events in the world. And I think we have to. We have a responsibility to discuss what this represents both metaphorically and in real time.
1:17.8	Yeah. And hi, everyone. I'm so glad to be here with you all. This is Temris. I, of course, love, love global football and just want to name that American football, even in its
1:32.8	name, is stolen.
1:35.6	Yes, there's a kicker to start the game.
1:38.7	There's a kickoff and there's a kicker in the middle of it.
1:41.1	But otherwise, it is a co-opted name from a global sport that in
1:47.8	American identities was more related to migrants and therefore less masculine, less patriarchal.
1:56.5	And so here we are with now what is American football or football in this country where
2:03.0	everywhere else in the world, with the exception of Australia, I think, they call football the
2:08.7	game that you play with your feet, which kind of makes sense, right?
	...

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