Pretendian

Pretendian is a pejorative colloquialism for Indigenous identity fraud, that is, a non-Native person falsely and publicly claiming an Indigenous identity.[1][2] It is a portmanteau of pretend and Indian.[1][3][4]

In the United States, Indigenous identity fraud often involves an individual publicly claiming to be Native American, while in Canada this includes claiming a First Nation, to be Métis, or Inuit.[5][6][7][8]

As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form of cultural appropriation,[9] especially if that individual then asserts that they can represent, and speak for, communities from which they do not originate.[4][9][10][11]

This practice is sometimes included in ethnic fraud or "race shifting".[12][13]

United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) writes:

We ... have had to contend with an onslaught of what we call 'Pretendians', that is, non-Indigenous people assuming a Native identity. DNA tests are setting up other problems involving those who discover Native DNA [sic] in their bloodline. When individuals assert themselves as Native when they are not culturally Indigenous, and if they do not understand their tribal nation's history or participate in their tribal nation's society, who benefits? Not the people or communities of the identity being claimed. It is hard to see this as anything other than an individual's capitalist claim, just another version of a colonial offense.[14]

In April 2018, APTN National News in Canada investigated how pretendians – in the film industry and in real life – promote "stereotypes, typecasting, and even, what is known as 'redface'."[15] Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation) voiced a similar position in 2019, writing for High Country News that:

Pretendians perpetuate the myth that Native identity is determined by the individual, not the tribe or community, directly undermining tribal sovereignty and Native self-determination. To protect the rights of Indigenous people, pretendians like Wages and Warren must be challenged and the retelling of their false narratives must be stopped.[16]

Additional slang terms have emerged from the term Pretendian. A defendian is a person who defends pretendians, while a Karendian is a person who calls out pretendians.[17] A descendian in English is a person with extremely distant, trace Indigenous ancestry who is not a member of the Indigenous nation which they claim.[18]

A pretenduit (portmanteau of pretend and Inuit) to describe the co-opting of Inuit heritage and culture.

The "Alleged Pretendians List"

In January 2021, Navajo journalist Jacqueline Keeler began investigating the problem of settler self-indigenization in academia.[19] 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.[19] This research resulted in the "Alleged Pretendians List",[20] of about 200 public figures in academia and entertainment, which Keeler self-published as a Google spreadsheet in 2021.[21]

While some people have criticized her for "conducting a witch hunt", Native leaders interviewed by VOA, such as Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe, report Keeler has strong support in Native circles.[19] Academic Dina Gilio-Whitaker, who reviewed Keeler's documentation on Sacheen Littlefeather before it was published, wrote that in her opinion Keeler did solid research.[22] 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.[21] She says the list is the product of decades of Native peoples' efforts at accountability.[19]

Academic Kim 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 relate 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.[23]

Skeptics of the "Alleged Pretendians List" have contested statements about its reliability and countered by questioning the methodology and motivations of Keeler, in one case releasing a signed statement via Last Real Indians accusing her of exploiting the issue of Indigenous fraud - which they acknowledged "had long been a problem in Indian Country" - for her own personal agenda.[24] Signees felt Keeler's methods were not an appropriate way to address the problem and instead argued Keeler was weaponizing "lateral violence, colonial trauma, and colonial recognition" against people she disagreed with or had prior disputes with. Keeler was also accused of promoting herself as a "self-appointed arbiter of Indian identity", with the statement eventually requesting that Keeler "respect the rights of every tribe, and urban inter-tribal communities to determine their own people, kin and citizenship".

Lakota journalist Alexandra Watson wrote in "Who made the Pretendian?" for NtvTwt.com that an article she'd written was used for reference without her consent.[25] Noting that she was not a genealogist and that the information she'd originally posted was publicly available, Watson felt her writing shouldn't be used as an endorsement nor support of the List. Watson later questioned, after discussing the history of Pretendians and lack of accountability they had beyond an apology in most cases, whether the List truly effected change in a society with "fake Natives being hired and passed off as Natives in Hollywood today no matter how many websites or how many Natives might speak up." She did not dismiss the need for Pretendians to be exposed - noting she and other Native writers and sites did so - but distinguished her methodology by noting "there is a lot of information to consider and reasons not to support the person" and felt that the process used to form the Alleged Pretendians List needed to be reconsidered and planned beyond merely listing people.

Other journalists have echoed similar concerns about the "Alleged Pretendians List's" accuracy and effect on the sovereignty of tribes. Northern Cheyenne journalist Angelina Newsom wrote in an op-ed for Powwows.com that Keeler had questioned the enrollment of the Native politician Ben Nighthorse Campbell and included him in her research, despite Campbell being a member of the federally-recognized tribe.[26] Newsom stated that it was unclear whether Keeler "reached out to Northern Cheyenne tribal officials" before making the decision and that at the time of writing, Newsom stated Keeler had not removed Campbell's name from the list. Newsom accused Keeler of lacking proper documentation, possible bias, as well as using Ancestry.com records in part of her research, and warned that the publishing of private information could also "negatively impact the actual Native folks listed as relatives and in-laws." Newsom argued in the closing of her article that tribes should be in charge of investigating citizenship claims, claiming that Keeler's method -which Newsom believed implicated people who were verifiably Native- wasn't "safe for Indian Country nor should it be the standard".

Métis author Chris La Tray, a member of the Little Shell Tribe, expressed his own thoughts about the debate after reportedly gaining access to the list, in an article published on the online publication Culture Study.[27] Noting that he "felt greasy" after viewing it, La Tray mentioned it was unclear how individuals he recognized were selected, nor who had nominated them. La Tray nonetheless considered the list to be "McCarthyismish bullshit". He stated that "throwing a list of names out there for people to eyeball and gossip" was unproductive, calling the process unsubstantiated.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Isai, Vjosa (October 15, 2022). "Doubts Over Indigenous Identity in Academia Spark 'Pretendian' Claims – Some Canadian universities now require additional proof to back up Indigenous heritage, replacing self-declaration policies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2022. 'pretendians' (short for 'pretend Indians')... Ms. TallBear said, there is no excuse for outright lies. 'If they're lying and they've gotten job benefits or scholarship benefits, they should be required to figure out how to make restitution,' she said, likening fake identity claims to falsifying academic credentials. 'It's fraud.'
  2. ^ Victor, Patti (June 21, 2024). "Pretendians: Indigenous Identity Fraud". Do Justice. Christian Reformed Church in North America. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  3. ^ Viren, Sarah (May 25, 2021). "The Native Scholar Who Wasn't". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021. the 1990s saw the beginning of what would eventually be significant pushback by Native Americans against so-called Pretendians or Pretend Indians
  4. ^ a b Robinson, Rowland (2020). "4. Interlude: Community, Pretendians, & Heartbreak". Settler Colonialism + Native Ghosts: An Autoethnographic Account of the Imaginarium of Late Capitalist/Colonialist Storytelling (Ph.D.). [Waterloo, Ontario]: University of Waterloo. p. 235. OCLC 1263615440. [The] phenomenon of what I and many other Indigenous people have for some time called Pretendians, as well as the related, and very often overlapping, phenomenon of Fétis*. This not-new phenomenon, to put it perhaps overly simply, is the practice of settler individuals (and sometimes others, but primarily settlers) putting forth a false Indigenous identity, and placing themselves out in front of the world as Indigenous people, and sometimes even attempting to assert themselves in some way as a kind of voice of their supposed peoples. *Portmanteaus of "Pretend" and "Indian" and "Fake" and "Métis", respectively. Pretendian, as a descriptive term, has been around most of my life, to the extent that I am not sure that placing its origin on the timeline is readily possible.
  5. ^ Leo, Geoff (September 13, 2021). "Push to remove 'pretendians' from Algonquin membership rekindled after CBC investigation – Analysis revealed letter linked to 1,000 Indigenous ancestry claims is likely fake". CBC News. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  6. ^ McCusker, K.J. (November 30, 2021). "The violence of pretending to be Indigenous - The recent call for organizing a Canada-wide dialogue about Indigenous identity by the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) is a solid step toward recognizing this as an ongoing problem. We must proactively address the issue of fraudulent proclamations". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021. We have been so heavily affected by stolen identities that the word "pretendian" has become a colloquially used term.
  7. ^ Polleta, Maria (November 30, 2017). "'Pretendians': Elizabeth Warren not alone in making questionable claim to Native American heritage". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via AZCentral.,
  8. ^ Irwin, Nigel (January 12, 2017). "Joseph Boyden's Apology and the Strange History of 'Pretendians' – Boyden is hardly the first person to be alleged to have faked Indigenous roots for material or spiritual gain". Vice Media. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Ridgen, Melissa (January 28, 2021). "Pretendians and what to do with people who falsely say they're Indigenous". APTN News. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021. Pretendians – noun – A person who falsely claims to have Indigenous ancestry – meaning it's people who fake an Indigenous identity or dig up an old ancestor from hundreds of years ago to proclaim themselves as Indigenous today. They take up a lot of space and income from First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples.
  10. ^ Brings Plenty, Trevino (December 30, 2018). "Pretend Indian Exegesis: The Pretend Indian Uncanny Valley Hypothesis in Literature and Beyond". Transmotion. 4 (2): 142–52. doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.648. Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  11. ^ "Joseph Boyden must take responsibility for misrepresenting heritage, says Indigenous writer". CBC News. Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  12. ^ Leroux, Darryl. "Raceshifting". Raceshifting. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  13. ^ Leroux, Darryl R. J.; Gaudry, Adam (October 25, 2017). "Becoming Indigenous: The rise of Eastern Métis in Canada". The Conversation. Retrieved November 5, 2022. In 2011 there were over 250 self-identified Cherokee 'tribes' in the U.S., according to anthropologist Circe Sturm. Like efforts by self-identified Métis, Sturm suggests that "race shifting" among white Americans to Cherokee identity is an attempt to 'reclaim or create something they feel they have lost, and … to opt out of mainstream white society'. The end result, however, has been the proliferation of self-identified Cherokee 'tribes' in the U.S. and 'Métis communities' in Eastern Canada with minimal connections to Indigenous peoples who they claim as long-ago ancestors.
  14. ^ Harjo, Joy (2020). "Introduction". In Harjo, Joy; Howe, Leanne; Foerster, Jennifer (eds.). When the Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 4. ISBN 9780393356816. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  15. ^ Murray, John (April 20, 2018). "APTN Investigates: Cowboys and Pretendians". Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021. Actors who do this are sometimes called "pretendians" but that term is also used for people who play at being Indigenous in their real life.
  16. ^ Nagle, Rebecca (April 2, 2019). "How 'pretendians' undermine the rights of Indigenous people - We must guard against harmful public discourse about Native identity as much as we guard against harmful policy". High Country News. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  17. ^ Capriccioso, Rob. "In Pretendian/Karendian/Defendian controversy, did New York Post photoshop Native activist?". Indigenous Wire. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  18. ^ "Should we distinguish between 'pretendians' and 'descendians'? (ep 317)". Goodpods. Media Indigena. March 10, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  19. ^ a b c d Hilleary, Cecily (April 3, 2022). "Across North America, academics have allegedly manufactured indigenous identity for personal, professional and financial gain". Voice of America. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  20. ^ Cyca, Michelle (September 6, 2022). "The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A 'Pretendian' investigation". Maclean's. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Keeler, Jacqueline (May 5, 2020). "The Alleged Pretendians List". Pollen Nation Magazine. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021.
  22. ^ Gilio Whitaker, Dina (October 28, 2022). "Sacheen Littlefeather and ethnic fraud – why the truth is crucial, even if it means losing an American Indian hero". The Conversation. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  23. ^ TallBear, Kim (May 10, 2021). "Playing Indian Constitutes a Structural Form of Colonial Theft, and It Must be Tackled". Unsettle. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  24. ^ "Community Members Speak out Against the "Alleged Pretendians List"". Last Real Indians. May 27, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  25. ^ Watson, Ali (June 14, 2021). "Who Made the Pretendian". NtvTwt.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  26. ^ Newsom, Angelina (May 14, 2021). "Opinion: The Real Problem With Jacqueline Keeler's 'Alleged Pretendian' List". Powwows.com. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2025. Alt URL
  27. ^ La Tray, Chris (February 21, 2021). "The Pretendians". Culture Study. Retrieved January 3, 2025.

Further reading

Look up pretendian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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