Pretendians
Pretendian is a pejorative colloquialism for Indigenous identity fraud, that is, a non-Native person falsely and publicly claiming an Indigenous identity. It is a portmanteau of pretend and Indian.
In the United States, Indigenous identity fraud often involves an individual publicly claiming to be Native American, or Mestizo, while in Canada this includes claiming a First Nation, to be Métis, or Inuit.
As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form of cultural appropriation, especially if that individual then asserts that they can represent, and speak for, communities from which they do not originate.
This practice is sometimes included in ethnic fraud or "race shifting".
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.
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'." 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.
Pretendians
- 2018-05-11T00:00:00.000000Z
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