"The widespread issue of "pretendians" remains under-examined even in Native circles. The topic is politically and socially fraught, with hyper-online crusaders taking up the mantle of pretendian hunting in pursuit of social media clout. The problem is real, but these sometimes vicious vigilante efforts have been known to conflate personal vendetta and erroneous or uneven methodology with rational research and concern for Indigenous communities."
"I think it's controversial because of colonialism. Our identities as Native people have been attacked from the beginning. And so many people have been disrupted, our communities have been disrupted, our families have been disrupted, our tribes have been disrupted. It's not really any surprise that we would find ourselves in this quagmire of confusion about what being Native is, especially, as I write about, if we understand it through the lens of free speech logics and private property. Identity is a personal possession."
Fraudulent claims of Native identity (pretendianism) and tribal disenrollment create confusion and harm within Indigenous communities. Online vigilante "pretendian hunters" often pursue social media clout, using uneven methods that can conflate personal vendettas with legitimate research. Colonial histories have disrupted families, communities, and tribal structures, producing contested understandings of Native identity and making the topic especially contentious. Many Indigenous people avoid confronting identity fraud because of historical attacks and cultural openness. Honest, rational approaches grounded in vulnerability, community norms, and careful research are necessary to address identity misrepresentation and protect tribal sovereignty and cultural integrity.
Read at High Country News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]