University of South Dakota USD RED Honors Thesis Theses, Dissertations, and Student Projects Spring 2018 Cultural Imagery’s Changing Place in Athletics Cash Anderson University of South Dakota Follow this and additional works at: https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis Recommended Citation Anderson, Cash, "Cultural Imagery’s Changing Place in Athletics" (2018). Honors Thesis. 6. https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/6 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Student Projects at USD RED. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Thesis by an authorized administrator of USD RED. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Cultural Imagery’s Changing Place in Athletics by Cash Anderson A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the University Honors Program Department of Political Science The University of South Dakota May 2018 The members of the Honors Thesis Committee appointed to examine the thesis of Cash Anderson find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ____________________________________ Mr. Marshall Damgaard Adjunct Instructor of Political Science Director of the Committee ____________________________________ Mr. Gary Larson Lecturer of Media and Journalism ____________________________________ Dr. Scott Breuninger Associate Professor of History ABSTRACT Cultural Imagery’s Changing Place in Athletics Cash Anderson Director: Marshall Damgaard Every sports team is represented by its name, mascot, and logo. For many, the representative of their team is an historical people. Recent pushes for social justice have started questioning nicknames and mascots, leading to many getting changed. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) enacted a policy that prohibited universities with hostile or abusive nicknames from postseason participation.