pretendian

[+12] 02: 25 pm - still more pretendian shenanigans.

May 2009 2009

But in recent months, she’s been labeled a “Pretendian,” a high-profile figure in academia, publishing or entertainment who is accused of using a false Native American identity for money, fame or professional opportunities.

‘I am a White person:’ UC Berkeley scholar apologizes for wrongly claiming to be Native American her ‘whole life’ mrossbayareanewsgroup.com 2023

Appropriation of American Indian and Alaska Native identity by individuals who are not members of sovereign tribes, referred to as “pretendians” by actual American Indians and Alaska Natives, is endemic. Actor Iron Eyes Cody, for instance, built a decadeslong career on it despite his Italian heritage.

Land Acknowledgments Meant to Honor Indigenous People Too Often Do the Opposite Elisa J. Sobo 2022

Keeler, who is Yankton Sioux and a member of the Navajo nation, has become a lightning rod for criticism because of her focus on exposing what she calls “Pretendians” — pretend Indians.

Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? Geoff Leo, Roxanna Woloshyn and Linda Guerriero 2023

Although the United States has a long history of white people “playing Indian,” as the scholar Philip J. Deloria calls it in his book of the same name, the 1990s saw the beginning of what would eventually be significant pushback by Native Americans against so-called Pretendians or Pretend Indians, including the successful passage of a national law prohibiting non-Native people from marketing their art as “Indian.”

The Native Scholar Who Wasn’t By 2021