A pretendian (

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words) is a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity by claiming to be a

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

of a Native American or

Indigenous Canadian In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fal ...

tribal nation, or to be descended from Native ancestors. The term is a

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

, and if used without evidence could be considered

defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form of

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...

, especially if that individual then asserts that they can represent, and speak for, communities they do not belong to. It is sometimes also referred to as a form of fraud, ethnic fraud or race shifting.

History of false claims to Indigenous identity

Early claims

Historian

Philip J. Deloria Philip Joseph Deloria is a historian, author and member of the Dakota Nation who specializes in Native American, Western American, and environmental history. He is the son of scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., and the great nephew of ethnologist Ella ...

has noted that European Americans "playing Indian" is a phenomenon that stretches back at least as far as the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...

. In his 1998 book ''

Playing Indian ''Playing Indian'' is a 1998 nonfiction book by Philip J. Deloria, which explores the history of the conflicted relationship white America has with Native American peoples. It explores the common historical and contemporary societal pattern of non ...

'', Deloria argues that white settlers have always played with stereotypical imagery of the peoples that were replaced during

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

, using these tropes to form a new national identity that can be seen as distinct from previous European identities. Examples of white societies who have played Indian include, according to Deloria, the

Improved Order of Red Men The Improved Order of Red Men is a fraternal organization established in North America in 1834. Their rituals and regalia are modeled after those assumed by men of the era to be used by Native Americans. Despite the name, the order was formed ...

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

, and scouting societies like the

Order of the Arrow The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the honor society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives as elected by their peers. The society was created by E. Urner G ...

. Individuals who made careers out of pretending an Indigenous identity include

James Beckwourth James Pierson Beckwourth (born Beckwith, April 26, 1798 or 1800 – October 29, 1866 or 1867), was an American mountain man, North American fur trade, fur trader, and explorer. Beckwourth was known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighte ...

Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (born Sylvester Clark Long; December 1, 1890 – March 20, 1932) was a journalist, writer and film actor who, for a time, became internationally prominent as a spokesman for Native Americans in the United States, Na ...

, and

Grey Owl Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (; September 18, 1888 – April 13, 1938), commonly known as Grey Owl, was a British-born conservationist, fur trapper, and writer who disguised himself as a Native American man. While he achieved fame as a co ...

. The academic Joel W. Martin noted that "an astonishing number of southerners assert they have a grandmother or great-grandmother who was some kind of Cherokee, often a princess", and that such myths serve settler purposes in aligning

American frontier The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of United States territorial acquisitions, American expansion in mainland North Amer ...

romance with southern regionalism and pride.

Post-1960s: Rise of pretendians in academia, arts and political positions

The rise of pretendian identities post-1960s can be explained by a number of factors. The reestablishment and exercise of

tribal sovereignty Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States. Originally, the U.S. federal government recognized American Indian trib ...

among tribal nations (following the era of

Indian termination policy Indian termination is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream ...

) meant that many individuals raised away from tribal communities sought, and still seek, to reestablish their status as tribal citizens or to recover connections to tribal traditions. Other tribal citizens, who had been raised in

American Indian boarding schools American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Na ...

under

genocidal Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

policies designed to erase their cultural identity, also revived tribal religious and cultural practices. At the same time, in the years following the

Occupation of Alcatraz The Occupation of Alcatraz (November 20, 1969 – June 11, 1971) was a 19-month long protest when 89 Native Americans and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island. The protest was led by Richard Oakes, LaNada Means, and others, while John T ...

, the formation of Native American studies as a distinct form of

area studies Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what ar ...

, and the awarding of the

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

author

N. Scott Momaday Navarre Scott Momaday (born February 27, 1934) is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel ''House Made of Dawn'' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native ...

, publishing programs and university departments began to be established specifically for or about Native American culture. At the same time,

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

and

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

cultures marketed Native cultures as accessible, spiritual, and as a form of resistance to mainstream culture, leading to the rise of the plastic shaman or "culture vulture." All of this added up to a culture that was not inclined to disbelieve self-identification, and a wider societal impulse to claim Indigeneity.

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (born "Elizabeth Irving", Crow Creek Sioux, in 1930) is an editor, essayist, poet, and novelist. She is considered to be outspoken in her views about Native American politics, particularly in regards to tribal sovereignty. Sh ...

. "Who Stole Native American Studies?" ''Wíčazo Ša Review'', Vol. 12, No. 1. (Spring, 1997), p. 23.

wrote of the influence of pretendians in academia and political positions: By 1990, as noted in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'', many years of "significant pushback by Native Americans against so-called Pretendians or Pretend Indians" resulted in the successful passage of the

Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) is a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States. It is illegal to offer or d ...

(IACA) - a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits

misrepresentation In common law jurisdictions, a misrepresentation is a false or misleading '' R v Kylsant'' 931/ref> statement of fact made during negotiations by one party to another, the statement then inducing that other party to enter into a contract. The m ...

in marketing of American Indian or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...

arts and crafts products within the United States. The IACA makes it illegal for non-Natives to offer or display for sale, or sell, any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or

Indian arts Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ne ...

and crafts organization. For a first-time violation of the Act, an individual can face civil or criminal penalties up to a $250,000 fine or a five-year prison term, or both. If a business violates the Act, it can face civil penalties or can be prosecuted and fined up to $1,000,000."The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990."
''US Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board.'' Retrieved 24 May 2009.

2000s: Contemporary controversies

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

( Mvskoke) writes: While Harjo refers to "Native DNA", there is no DNA test that can reliably confirm Native American ancestry, and no DNA test can indicate tribal origin. Attempts by non-Natives to racialize Indigenous identity by DNA tests have been seen by Indigenous people as insensitive at best, often racist, politically and financially motivated, and dangerous to the survival of Indigenous cultures. While Indigenous communities have always self-policed and spread word of frauds, mainstream media and arts communities were often unaware, or did not act upon this information, until more recent decades. However, since the 1990s and 2000s, a number of controversies regarding ethnic fraud have come to light and received coverage in mainstream media, leading to a broader awareness of pretendians in the world at large. In April 2018,

APTN National News ''APTN National News'' is a Canadian television national news program broadcast by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The program formerly broadcast in two daily editions, ''APTN National News Daytime'' at ...

in Canada investigated how pretendians - in the film industry and in real life - promote "

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

, typecasting, and even, what is known as '

redface Redface is the wearing of makeup to darken or redden skin tone, or feathers, warpaint, etc. by non-Natives to impersonate a Native American or Indigenous Canadian person, or to in some other way perpetuate stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of ...

.'" Rebecca Nagle (

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

) voiced a similar position in 2019, writing for ''

High Country News ''High Country News'' is a monthly independent magazine based in Paonia, Colorado, that covers environmental, social, and political issues in the Western United States. Syndicated stories from ''High Country News'' have appeared in ''The New York T ...

'' that, In January 2021,

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

journalist Jacqueline Keeler began investigating the problem of settler self-indigenization in academia. Working with other Natives in tribal enrollment departments, genealogists and historians, they began following up on the names many had been hearing for years in tribal circles were not actually Native, asking about current community connections as well as researching family histories "as far back as the 1600s" to see if they had any ancestors who were Native or had ever lived in a tribal community. This research resulted in the ''Alleged Pretendians List'', of about 200 public figures in academia and entertainment, which Keeler self-published as a Google spreadsheet in 2021. While some people have criticized her for "conducting a witch hunt", Native leaders interviewed by

VOA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, such as Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes, report Keeler has strong support in Native circles. Academic

Dina Gilio-Whitaker Dina Gilio-Whitaker is an American academic, journalist and author, who studies Native Americans in the United States, decolonization and environmental justice. She is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes. In 2019, she published ''As Long ...

, who reviewed Keeler’s documentation on

Sacheen Littlefeather Marie Louise Cruz (November 14, 1946 – October 2, 2022), better known as Sacheen Littlefeather, was an American actress, model, and activist on behalf of Native American civil rights. Littlefeather represented Marlon Brando at the 45th Aca ...

before it was published (see below), wrote that in her opinion Keeler did solid research. Keeler has stressed that the list does not include private citizens who are "merely wannabes", but only those public figures who are monetizing and profiting from their claims to tribal identity and who claim to speak for Native American tribes. She says the list is the product of decades of Native peoples' efforts at accountability. Academic

Kim TallBear Kim TallBear (born 1968) is a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate professor at the University of Alberta, specializing in racial politics in science. Holding the first ever Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, TallBear ...

writes that all those mentioned on the list are public figures who have profited from their alleged Indigenous status, that Keeler’s and her team’s list documents that the overwhelming number of those who benefit financially from pretendianism are white, and that these false claims are related to white supremacy and Indigenous erasure. Tallbear stresses that people who fabricate fraudulent claims are in no way the same as disconnected and reconnecting descendants who have real heritage, such as victims of government programs that scooped Indigenous children from their families. On September 13, 2021, the

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

reported on their ongoing investigation into a "mysterious letter", dated 1845 (but never seen before 2011) that is now believed to be a forgery. Based solely on the one ancestor listed in this letter, over 1,000 people were enrolled as

Algonquin people The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawato ...

, making them "potential beneficiaries of a massive pending land claim agreement involving almost $1 billion and more than 500 sq. kilometres of land". The CBC investigation used handwriting analysis, and other methods of archival and historical evaluation to conclude the letter is a fake. This has led to the federally recognized Pikwakanagan First Nation to renew efforts to remove these "pretendian" claimants from their membership. In a statement to CBC News, the chief and council of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation say that those they are seeking to remove "are fraudulently taking up Indigenous spaces in high academia and procurement opportunities." In October 2021, the CBC published an investigation into the status of Canadian academic Carrie Bourassa, who works as an Indigenous health expert and has claimed

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

and

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

status. Research into her claims indicated that her ancestry is wholly European. In particular, the great-grandmother she claimed was Tlingit, Johanna Salaba, is well-documented as having emigrated from Russia in 1911; she was a Czech-speaking Russian. In response, Bourassa admitted that she does not have status in the communities that she claimed but insisted that she does have some Indigenous ancestors and that she has hired other genealogists to search for them. Bourassa was placed on immediate leave from her post at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research after her claims of Indigenous ancestry were found to be baseless. in November 2021, writing for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' about the Bourassa situation as well as the actions of Joseph Boyden and Michelle Latimer, K.J. McCusker wrote, Sacheen Littlefeather Oscar 45 (cropped)

Sacheen Littlefeather Oscar 45 (cropped)

In October 2022, actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather died. Shortly thereafter her sisters spoke to Navajo reporter Jacqueline Keeler and said that their family has no ties to the

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Stat ...

tribes Sacheen had claimed. As Littlefeather had been a beloved activist, these reports were met with controversy, challenges, and attacks on Keeler, largely on social media. Academic Dina Gilio-Whitaker wrote that the truth about community leaders is "crucial", even if it means losing a "hero", and that the work Littlefeather did is still valuable, but we need to be honest about the harm done by pretendians, even and perhaps especially by those who manage to fool so many people that they become iconic:

Motivating factors

There are several possible explanations for why people adopt pretendian identities. Mnikȟówožu Lakota poet

Trevino Brings Plenty Trevino Brings Plenty is a Lakota Sioux ( Mnikȟówožu) poet and musician, who was born on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation. He currently serves as Coordinator of Native American Student Services at Portland State University. Scholar Kar ...

writes: "To wear an underrepresented people's skin is enticing. I get it: to feast on struggle, to explore imagined roots; to lay the foundational work for academic jobs and publishing opportunities."

Patrick Wolfe Patrick Wolfe (1949 – 18 February 2016) was an Australian historian and scholar who made significant contributions to several academic fields, including anthropology, genocide studies, Indigenous studies, and the historiography of race, colon ...

argues that the problem is more structural, stating that settler colonial ideology actively needs to erase and then reproduce

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

identity in order to create and justify claims to land and territory. Deloria also explores the white American dual fascination with "the vanishing Indian" and the idea that, by "

", the white man can then be the true inheritor and preserver of authentic American identity and connection to the land, aka "Indianness". Academics

(

Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation ( dak, Sisíthuŋwaŋ Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ oyáte), formerly Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe/Dakota Nation, is a federally recognized tribe comprising two bands and two subdivisions of the '' ...

( Colville), Robert Jago (

Kwantlen First Nation Kwantlen First Nation ( hur, qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓) is a First Nations band government in British Columbia, Canada, located primarily on McMillan Island near Fort Langley. The Kwantlen people traditionally speak hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the Downrive ...

), Rowland Robinson (

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

), as well as journalist Jacqueline Keeler (

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

) and attorney Jean Teillet (great-grandniece of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

) also name

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

, in addition to ongoing settler colonialism, as core factors in the phenomenon. In ''Settler Colonialism + Native Ghosts'' - "Community, Pretendians, & Heartbreak", Robinson posits that In October 2022, Teillet published the report, ''Indigenous Identity Fraud'', for the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. Discussing her research, she wrote for the

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

Notable examples

Individuals who have been accused of being a pretendian include:

Academic

Ward Churchill Ward LeRoy Churchill (born 1947) is an American author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007.

(born 1947) A professor of ethnic studies and political activist, Churchill built his career on his claims of Indigenous identity that were unsupported by membership in any tribe or by later genealogical research that failed to find any evidence of Indigenous ancestry. *

Rachel Dolezal Nkechi Amare Diallo (; born Rachel Anne Dolezal, November 12, 1977) () is an American former college instructor and activist known for identifying as a transracial black woman. In addition to claiming black ancestry, she also claimed Native Ame ...

(born 1977)

Gyasi Ross Gyasi Ross is a Blackfeet author, attorney, rapper, speaker and storyteller. He is the author of two books ''Don't Know Much About Indians (but I wrote a book about us anyways'') (2011) and ''How to Say I Love You in Indian'' (2014) and he is a ...

.
The Native roots of the bizarre Rachel Dolezal drama
." ''

Indian Country Today ''ICT News'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations. It was founded in 1981 as a weekly print newspaper, ''The ...

'' 12 June 2017. Quote: "She was consistent at least—when she said that she was Native American, she said that she was also the Nativest of the Natives. She was born in a tipi and hunted with bows and arrows." Although Dolezal is better known for claiming to be African-American, she began her career claiming to be Native American, telling people that she was born in a tipi and grew up hunting for food with bows and arrows. * Susan Taffe Reed Former director of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

's Native American Program. Fired in 2015 "after tribal officials and alumni accused her of misrepresenting herself as an American Indian".Pierce, Meghan,
"Dartmouth criticized for Native American Studies hire"
, ''

New Hampshire Union Leader The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.'' Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...

'', September 19, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015. * Andrea Smith Smith has built a career as a scholar, author and activist based on her claim that she is a Cherokee woman. Despite many articles and statements by Cherokee people and genealogists stating she has no Cherokee heritage or citizenship, she has never retracted her claim. * Terry Tafoya Now going by the name Ty Nolan. A former psychology professor at

Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

, claimed Warm Springs and Taos Pueblo heritage. False claims reported by the ''Seattle Post Intelligencer'' in 2006. * Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond - Lawyer; former academic; former judge. False claims to Indigenous anscestry exposed by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

in 2022.

Film and television

Iron Eyes Cody-Roy Rogers in North of the Great Divide

Kelsey Asbille Kelsey Asbille Chow (born September 9, 1991) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Mikayla in the Disney XD sitcom ''Pair of Kings'', and as Monica Long in the TV Series ''Yellowstone''. From 2005 to 2009, she had a recurring role ...

(born 1991) A

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...

actress who has been cast in numerous Native American roles. She has falsely claimed descent from the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a Federally recognized tribe, federally recognized Indian Tribe based in Western North Carolina in the U ...

(EBCI) and a "Cherokee identity". In response, the EBCI issued a statement that "Kelsey Asbille (Chow) is not now nor has she ever been an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. No documentation was found in our records to support any claim that she descends from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.” * "Iron Eyes" Cody (1904–1999) Born as Espera Oscar de Corti, and came to be known as "The Crying Indian". An Italian-American actor most well known for his appearance in a 1970's anti-littering commercial. Cody pretended to be from various tribes and denied his Italian heritage for the rest of his life. *

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

(born 1963) An actor who has claimed both Creek and Cherokee descent on numerous occasions, including when cast as

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...

in the 2013 film ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'', but who has no documented Native ancestry nor membership in any tribe. *

(1946–2022) Born Maria Louise Cruz, an actress who took the stage in Plains-style attire at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

to decline the 1972 Best Actor award on behalf of

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

for ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

''. Presenting herself throughout her life as a

White Mountain Apache The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of th ...

and

activist for Native American rights who had grown up in a hovel without a toilet, her sisters and others later said her heritage was actually half–

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

of Spanish-European descent and half white. An investigation by the Navajo writer-activist Jacqueline Keeler and her team, and reviewed by academics prior to publication, revealed no apparent ties to any tribe in the United States.

Literary

Joseph Boyden Joseph Boyden (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Irish and Scottish descent. He also claims Indigenous descent, but this is widely disputed. Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture ...

(born 1966) A novelist of Irish and Scottish ancestry best known for writing about First Nations culture who has no recognized tribal membership and whose familial and DNA-based claims to Indigenous ancestry have failed efforts at verification and were summarized by his ex-wife as "no DNA that can be traced to the First Nations people in Canada or the Americas at large". *

Asa Earl Carter Asa Earl Carter (September 4, 1925 – June 7, 1979) was a 1950s segregationist speech writer, and later Western novelist. He co-wrote George Wallace's well-known pro- segregation line of 1963, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregati ...

(1925–1979) Published using the pseudonym Forrest Carter as a supposed

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

. The founder of a

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

paramilitary group and a

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

politician under his birth name, he used his pseudonym to write popular books including '' The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales'' and '' The Education of Little Tree''. Also known for co-authoring

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

's tagline, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever". *

(1888–1938) An Englishman born as Archibald Stansfeld Belaney who became a woodsman and wrote books and gave lectures as an activist primarily on environmental and conservationism issues, but was exposed after his death as having falsely claimed his Indigenous identity. *

Jamake Highwater Jamake Highwater (born Jackie Marks, also known as Jay or J Marks; 14 February 1931 – June 3, 2001) was an American writer and journalist of Eastern European Jewish ancestry who mispresented himself as Cherokee. In the late 1960s, Marks assum ...

(1931–2001) A prolific American writer and journalist born as Jackie Marks who passed as Cherokee and used Native American culture as his writing theme although he was actually of eastern European Jewish ancestry. *

(1890–1932) The persona of the African-American journalist, writer and film actor Sylvester Clark Long, who falsely claimed Blackfoot and Cherokee heritage. *

Nasdijj Timothy Patrick Barrus, also known as Tim Barrus (born 1950), is an American author and social worker who is best known for having published three "memoirs" between 2000 and 2004 under the pseudonym Nasdijj, by which he presented himself as a Navaj ...

(born 1950) The pseudonym of writer Tim Barrus, an American author and social worker best known for having published three "

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

" between 2000 and 2004 while presenting himself as a

. *

Red Thunder Cloud Red Thunder Cloud (May 30, 1919January 8, 1996), born Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West, also known as Carlos Westez, was a singer, dancer, storyteller, and field researcher. For a time he was promoted by anthropologists as "the last fluent speaker of ...

(1919–1996) Born Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West, also known as Carlos Westez, a singer, dancer, storyteller, and field researcher who was promoted as the last fluent speaker of the

Catawba language Catawba () is one of two Eastern Siouan languages of the eastern US, which together with the Western Siouan languages formed the Siouan language family. The last native, fluent speaker of Catawba was Missouri Brindle' The Catawba tribe is now wo ...

, but was later revealed to have learned what little he knew of the language from books and to have been of African American heritage. * Sat-Okh (1920–2003), also known as Stanisław Supłatowicz, was a writer, artist, and soldier who served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, that claimed to be of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

descent. His origins were heavily disputed. *

Margaret Seltzer Margaret Seltzer (pseudonymously Margaret B. Jones, born 1975) is an American writer. In 2008, Seltzer published her first book, ''Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival'', about her alleged experiences growing up as a half white, ...

(born 1975) The writer of a "memoir" of her supposed experiences as a half–Native American foster child and gang member in

South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

and was later revealed to have completely fabricated the story after growing up in an affluent neighborhood with no Native American background or heritage.

Political

* Carrie Bourassa A scientific director of the Indigenous health arm of the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the M ...

who claimed to be

Anishnaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, M ...

and

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

. She was placed on immediate leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) found no evidence to support her repeated claims of Indigenous ancestry. *

Kaya Jones Chrystal Neria (born August 28, 1984), known professionally as Kaya Jones, is a Canadian-born American singer and model. She originally became known in 2003 for performing with the American girl group the Pussycat Dolls. Since 2004, she has pursue ...

(born 1984) A singer and model who joined the

National Diversity Coalition for Trump The National Diversity Coalition for Trump (NDCTRUMP) was formed in April 2016 to provide support specifically from ethnic minorities for presidential candidate Donald Trump. History The idea for the group arose after a contentious meeting that ...

as their "Native American Ambassador"; she falsely claimed to be

. *

Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta since October 11, 2022, and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 6, 2022. Smith ent ...

- Premier of Alberta who claimed to have a

great-great-grandmother who was a victim of the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

. An investigation from

found no evidence Smith's ancestors were Indigenous or part of the Trail of Tears. *

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

(born 1949) A

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

and presidential candidate who claimed Cherokee and Delaware ancestry. She attempted to support her claim by releasing a video with DNA analysis, but her DNA claims were rejected by the Cherokee Nation, with then

Secretary of State,

Chuck Hoskin Jr. Chuck Hoskin Jr. (born 1974/1975) is a Cherokee-American politician and attorney currently serving as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019. Hoskin has previously served as a Tribal Councilor for the Cherokee Nation between 2007 a ...

(now Principal Chief of the Nation) stating in a press release in response, "Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong." Warren eventually expressed regret and apologized for "claiming American Indian heritage". * Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (born 1963) A Canadian lawyer, former judge, Aboriginal Scholar, and advocate falsely claimed

Treaty Indian In Canada, a treaty Indian is an Indian who belongs to a band that is party to one of the eleven Numbered Treaties signed by Canada with various First Nations between 1871 and 1922.http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/po ...

status as a Cree Nation member.

Visual arts

* Gina Adams (born 1965) A visual artist and assistant professor at

Emily Carr University Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

, Adams claims

White Earth Ojibwe The White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, also called the White Earth Nation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, "People from where there is an abundance of white clay"), is a federally recognized Native American band located ...

and

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

ancestry, and that her grandfather lived on the

White Earth Indian Reservation The White Earth Indian Reservation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag, "Where there is an abundance of white clay") is the home to the White Earth Band, located in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in the state by land area. T ...

and was removed at age eight to attend

Carlisle Indian Industrial School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...

, which closed in 1918. Genealogists reported that Adams' grandfather "was a white man named Albert Theriault, who was born in Massachusetts to French-Canadian parents." Adams has also claimed that her great-great-grandfather was Ojibwe chief Wabanquot (1830–1898), a signer of the 1867 federal treaty with the Chippewa of the Mississippi. She has shown no evidence supporting any of these claims. She claims to be only a descendant, not an enrolled tribal member, so she and her gallery have so far successfully evaded the US Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. *

Jimmie Durham Jimmie Bob Durham (July 10, 1940 – November 17, 2021) was an American sculptor, essayist and poet. He was active in the United States in the civil rights movements of African Americans and Native Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, serving on the ...

(1940–2021) An artist and activist who claimed one-quarter Cherokee descent by blood and to have grown up in a Cherokee-speaking community, Durham exhibited his work in the U.S. as Native American art until the passage of the

Indian Arts and Crafts Act The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) is a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States. It is illegal to offer or ...

of 1990 prohibiting false claims of Native production of arts and crafts that are offered for sale; he subsequently left the United States and has continued to claim Cherokee identity in European exhibitions. He was also formerly an organizer and central committee member for the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police ...

, including working as chief administrator for the

International Indian Treaty Council The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) is an organization of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific working for the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition ...

. However, he has been reported to have "no known ties to any Cherokee community" and to be "neither enrolled nor eligible for citizenship" in any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. *

Yeffe Kimball Yeffe Kimball, born Effie Goodman, (March 30, 1906– April 11, 1978) was an American artist known for her abstract modernist work with Native American and space exploration subjects. Kimball created work under an assumed Osage Indian identity, r ...

(1906–1978) An artist who claimed to be

Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage". Osage can also refer to: * Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation * Osage (Unicode b ...

. Born Effie Goodman, she made Native American art under her assumed identify but also engaged in Native American political activism. * Cheyanne Turions An artist and art curator who claimed an

identity for grant applications until "outed" in 2021, Turions later stated that she had investigated her family's history and that as a result "I changed my self-identification to settler," and resigned from her position as a curator.

Notes

References

External links

{{Wiktionary
APTN Investigates: Cowboys and Pretendians

television report featuring many of the examples in this article, notably those in film
The Convenient "Pretendian"
''Canada Land'' podcast
"Indigenous 'Race Shifting' Red Flags: A Quick Primer for Reporters and Others"
by

(Sisseton-Wahpeton)
"Playing Pretendian"
Code Switch, NPR
Pretendians and Their Impact on Métis Identity in the Academy
-

panel discussion including

Maria Campbell Maria Campbell (born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan) is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her publish ...

(Métis) - 10 Dec 2021
The Pretendian Problem
-

video report on pretendians and fake Métis - 28 Jan 2021
Raceshifting
resource on Eastern Euro-Canadians and Euro-Americans posting as Indigenous peoples
Unsettling Genealogies Conference
- A Forum on Pseudo Indians, Race-Shifting, Pretendians, and Self-Indigenization in Media, Arts, Politics and the Academy - Series of 8 panel presentations in Spring, 2022, at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

.
Unmasking Pseudo Indians
Opening Remarks at by George Cornell (Ojibwe),

Ben Barnes (Shawnee) The Shawnee Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma. Formerly known as the Loyal Shawnee, they are one of three federally recognized Shawnee tribes. The others are the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and th ...

, Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton) - Mar 21, 2022
Teillet Report on Indigenous Identity Fraud
- October 2022 report for the

Literary forgeries Impostors Multiracial affairs in the United States Native American-related controversies Cultural appropriation Race in Canada