Playing Indian with Rebecca Nagle

As we endure surreal celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the United States, we hear the same Disneyfied history being told over and over again. Rebecca Nagle is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and the host of the podcast This Land as well as a new investigative series called First America, a show that unveils how the treatment of Indigenous nations and the Native resistance that followed shaped US democracy in profound and surprising ways. For this episode, Rebecca tells us about the history of white colonizers "Playing Indian," from the costumes of the Boston Tea Party, to the Victorian-era summer camps, the symbolic 19th century political cartoons, the names and logos of sports mascots, and even a new mascot of a recent insurrection. We talk about what the history of both indigenous peoples themselves as well as colonizers' idea of Indigenous peoples has to do with American identity, freedom, and envy, and how we can look to the past not just to find the roots of the present, but also to learn about potential paths to resistance.

Listen to Rebecca's new podcast First America:

Apple / Spotify / Website

Check out more of Rebecca's work here

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Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by ⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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