Description
Book Synopsis2023 NASSH Anthologies Book Award Finalist
The Imperial Gridiron examines the competing versions of manhood at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School between 1879 and 1918. Students often arrived at Carlisle already engrained with Indigenous ideals of masculinity. On many occasions these ideals would come into conflict with the models of manhood created by the school’s original superintendent, Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt believed that Native Americans required the “embrace of civilization,” and he emphasized the qualities of self-control, Christian ethics, and retaliatory masculinity. He encouraged sportsmanship and fair play over victory.
Pratt’s successors, however, adopted a different approach, and victory was enshrined as the main objective of Carlisle sports. As major stars like Jim Thorpe and Lewis Tewanima came to the fore, this change in approach created a conflict over manhood within the school: should the competitive athleti
Trade Review"[
The Imperial Gridiron] is a valuable contribution that is truly the collaborative product of two fine scholars."—Wade Davies,
South Dakota History"
The Imperial Gridiron provides another good addition to the study of the complexities of race and athletics that continue to find discourse inside and outside of academia."—Roger Moore,
Chronicles of Oklahoma“Carlisle football teams always aimed to show off masculine American Indian bodies. Tracing shifts in the meaning of that display—from virtuous civilization to a more brutal physicality—Matthew Bentley and John Bloom tell a powerful new story about the internal contradictions and long decline of America’s iconic Indian boarding school. A revelatory book that is not to be missed.”—Philip J. Deloria, author of
Indians in Unexpected Places“Clear and engaging. This book offers an accessible history of the entanglements of race, empire, sport, gender, and schooling as manifested in the play of football at the Carlisle institution. While we are fortunate to have an increasingly sophisticated literature focused on Native Americans in the field of sports studies, this book stands alone in its close reading of masculinity, racial formation, and modernity.”—C. Richard King, author of
Redskins: Insult and Brand“
The Imperial Gridiron contributes significantly to the fields of off-reservation Indian boarding school studies, sport studies, and studies on masculinity. What makes this book unique is that it offers a serious interrogation of Native athletes and masculinity by providing the reader with scholarly and theoretical depth.”—Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, author of
Education beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902–1929Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Manhood at Carlisle, 1879–1903
2. Playing White Men, 1893–1903
3. The Rise of Athletic Masculinity at Carlisle, 1904–1913
4. “Civilization” on Trial
5. The Aftermath
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
