Red Mitten Nationalism: Sport, Commercialism, and Settler Colonialism in Canada

by Estée Fresco

Overview

When Canada hosted the 1976 Montreal Olympics, few Canadian spectators waved flags in the stands. By 2010, in the run-up to the Vancouver Olympics, thousands of Canadians wore red mittens with white maple leaves on the palms. In doing so, they turned their hands into miniature flags that flew with even a casual wave. Red Mitten Nationalism investigates this shift in Canadians’ displays of patriotism by exploring how common understandings of Canadian history and identity are shaped at the intersection of sport, commercialism, and nationalism. Through case studies of recent Canadian-hosted Olympic and Commonwealth Games, Estée Fresco argues that representations of Indigenous Peoples’ cultures are central to the way everyday Canadians, corporations, and sport organizations remember the past and understand the present. Corporate sponsors and games organizers highlight selective ideas about the nation’s identity, and unacknowledged truths about the history and persistence of Settler colonialism in Canada haunt the commercial and cultural features of these sporting events. Commodities that represent the nation – from disposable trinkets to carefully curated objects of nostalgia – are not uncomplicated symbols of national pride, but rather reminders that Canada is built on Indigenous land and Settlers profit from its natural resources. Red Mitten Nationalism challenges readers to re-evaluate how Canadians use sport and commercial practices to express their patriotism and to understand the impact of this expression on the current state of Indigenous-Settler relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780228014164
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2022
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Estée Fresco is assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at York University.

Table of Contents

Figures vii

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xiii

List of People xv

Introduction: Impassioned Objects and Seething Absences 3

1 Commercializing French-Canadian Identity, Indigenous Cultures, and Nationalism in the 1976 Montreal Olympics 30

2 Commercializing English-Canadian Identity, Indigenous Cultures, and Oil in the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games 57

3 Commercializing Western Canadian Identity, Indigenous Cultures, and National Unity in the 1988 Calgary Olympics 75

4 Commercializing Indigenous Cultures and Lumber in the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games 106

5 Commercializing Reconciliation and Indigenous Cultures in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics 124

Conclusion: Red Mitten Nationalism and a History That Is Still Alive 160

Notes 175

Bibliography 215

Index 227

Editorial Reviews

Fresco engages with the timely and important issues of colonization, reconciliation, and Indigenous resistance through the lens of sport. Thoughtful, insightful, and benefitting greatly from the author's own considerable primary research, Red Mitten Nationalism makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the connections between the Olympic Games, nationalism, and commercialism.” Richard Gruneau, Simon Fraser University and author of Sport and Modernity

From the Publisher