Pretendian (portmanteau ofpretend andIndian^[1][2][3]) is apejorativecolloquialism describing a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity by professing to be acitizen of aNative American orFirst Nationtribal nation, or to be descended from Native American or First Nation ancestors.^[4][5][6][7] As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form ofcultural appropriation,^[8] especially if that individual then asserts that they can represent, and speak for, communities from which they do not originate.^{[3][8][9][10]} The practice has sometimes been calledIndigenous identity fraud,^[11][1] ethnic fraud, and race shifting.^[12][13]

Early false claims to native identity, often called "playing Indian", go back at least as far as theBoston Tea Party. There was a rise in pretendians after the 1960s for a number of reasons, such as the reestablishment oftribal sovereignty following the era ofIndian termination policy, the media coverage of theOccupation of Alcatraz and theWounded Knee Occupation, and the formation ofNative American studies as a distinct form ofarea studies which led to the establishment of publishing programs and university departments specifically for or about Native American culture. At the same time,hippie andNew Age subcultures marketed Native cultures as accessible, spiritual, and as a form of resistance to mainstream culture, leading to the rise of theplastic shaman or "culture vulture". By 1990, many years of pushback byNative Americans against pretendians resulted in the successful passage of theIndian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (IACA) – atruth-in-advertising law which prohibitsmisrepresentation in marketing ofAmerican Indian orAlaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States.

While native 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. 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.

HistorianPhilip J. Deloria has noted that European Americans "playing Indian" is a phenomenon that stretches back at least as far as theBoston Tea Party.^[14] In his 1998 bookPlaying Indian, Deloria argues that white settlers have always played with stereotypical imagery of the peoples that were replaced duringcolonization, 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, theImproved Order of Red Men,Tammany Hall, and scouting societies like theOrder of the Arrow. Individuals who made careers out of pretending an Indigenous identity includeJames Beckwourth,^[15]Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance,^[16] andGrey Owl.^[7][17][18]

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 aligningAmerican frontier romance with southern regionalism and pride.^[19]

The rise of pretendian identities post-1960s can be explained by a number of factors. The reestablishment and exercise oftribal sovereignty among tribal nations (following the era ofIndian termination policy) 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 inAmerican Indian boarding schools undergenocidal policies designed to erase their cultural identity, also revived tribal religious and cultural practices.

At the same time, in the years following theOccupation of Alcatraz, the formation ofNative American studies as a distinct form ofarea studies, and the awarding of thePulitzer Prize for Fiction toKiowa authorN. Scott Momaday, publishing programs and university departments began to be established specifically for or about Native American culture. At the same time,hippie andNew Age cultures marketed Native cultures as accessible, spiritual, and as a form of resistance to mainstream culture, leading to the rise of theplastic 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.^[20]

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn wrote of the influence of pretendians in American academia and political positions:

[U]nscrupulous scholars in the discipline who had no stake in Native nationhood but who had achieved status in academia and held on to it through fraudulent claims to Indian Nation heritage and blood directed the discourse. This phenomenon took place following the "Indian Preference" regulations in new hiring practices at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the early 1970s. Sometimes unprepared for such outright aggression or suffering polarization from the conflicts in the system, Native scholars in the academy often seemed to be silent witnesses to such occurrences. Their silence has not meant complicity. It has meant, more than anything, a feeling of utter powerlessness within the structures of strong mainstream institutions.^[20]

By 1990, as noted inThe New York Times Magazine, many years of "significant pushback by Native Americans against so-called Pretendians or Pretend Indians" resulted in the successful passage of theIndian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (IACA) – a truth-in-advertising law which prohibitsmisrepresentation in the marketing ofAmerican Indian orAlaska Natives arts and crafts products within the United States.^[2] 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, Indian tribe, orIndian arts 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.^[21]

United States Poet LaureateJoy 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.^[22]

While modern DNA testing can confirm some degree ofNative American ancestry, as well as family relatedness, it is less able to indicate tribal belonging orNative American identity, which is based on culture as well as biology.^[23][24] Attempts by non-Natives to racialize Indigenous identity through DNA tests have been seen by some Indigenous people, such asKim TallBear, as insensitive at best, though often racist, politically and financially motivated, and dangerous to the survival of Indigenous cultures.^[25][a]

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 recent decades.^[8] 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.^[2][4][8]

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'."^[30]Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation) voiced a similar position in 2019, writing forHigh 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.^[31]

In January 2021,Navajo journalistJacqueline Keeler began investigating the problem of settler self-indigenization in academia.^[32] 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.^[32] This research resulted in the "Alleged Pretendians List",^[33] of about 200 public figures in academia and entertainment, which Keeler self-published as a Google spreadsheet in 2021.^[34]

While some people have criticized her for "conducting a witch hunt", Native leaders interviewed byVOA, such as ChiefBen Barnes of theShawnee Tribe, report Keeler has strong support in Native circles.^[32] AcademicDina Gilio-Whitaker, who reviewed Keeler's documentation onSacheen Littlefeather before it was published, wrote that in her opinion Keeler did solid research.^[35] 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.^[34] She says the list is the product of decades of Native peoples' efforts at accountability.^[32]

AcademicKim 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 thatscooped Indigenous children from their families.^[36]

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 accusing her of exploiting the issue of Indigenous fraud - which they acknowledged "had long been a problem inIndian Country" - for her own personal agenda.^[37] 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".

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 that Keeler had questioned the enrollment of the Native politicianBen Nighthorse Campbell and included him in her research, despite Campbell being a member of the federally-recognized tribe.^[38] 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 usingAncestry.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 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 authorChris La Tray, a member of theLittle Shell Tribe, expressed his own thoughts about the debate after reportedly gaining access to the list, in an article published on the online publicationCulture Study.^[39]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 cited the inclusion ofThomas King as an example of this: "Why is he here? Who said he's a pretendian? And where on this list is it detailed the steps made to put him here in the first place?" While La Tray stated that he respected Keeler's previous work and also felt the cause was needed, 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.

On September 13, 2021, theCBC News reported on their ongoing investigation into a "mysterious letter", dated 1845 (but never seen before 2011^[40]) that is now believed to be a forgery. Based solely on the one ancestor listed in this letter, over 1,000 people were enrolled asAlgonquin people, making them "potential beneficiaries of a massive pending land claim agreement involving almost $1 billion and more than 500 sq. kilometres of land".^[4] 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 recognizedPikwakanagan 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".^[4]

In October 2021, theCBC published an investigation into the status of Canadian academicCarrie Bourassa, who works as an Indigenous health expert and has claimedMétis,Anishinaabe andTlingit status.^[41] 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.^[41] 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.^[41] 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.^[42]

In November 2021, writing for theToronto Star about the Bourassa situation as well as the actions of Joseph Boyden and Michelle Latimer, K. J. McCusker wrote,

We have been so heavily affected by stolen identities that the word "pretendian" has become a colloquially used term.Stolen identities undermine us to the point where we end up fodder for the tabloids the likes ofDaily Mail. We become a spectacle for those who at best think of us as a Halloween costume idea. To people like Bourassa, we are indeed a costume, except one you get to wear all year long and benefit from professionally because it checks that box that was created to even-out the field that cannot ever be evened out just by a box.^[5]

In October 2022, Macleans magazine published a detailed article that elaborated on Carrie Bourassa, in addition to a detailed look atGina Adams. The article also discusses the questioned identities ofAmie Wolf,Cheyanne Turions, andMichelle Latimer.^[33]

In October 2022, actor and activistSacheen Littlefeather died. Shortly thereafter her sisters spoke toNavajo reporterJacqueline Keeler and said that their family has no ties to theApache orYaqui tribes Sacheen had claimed.^[43] As Littlefeather had been a beloved activist, these reports were met with controversy, challenges, and attacks on Keeler, largely on social media.^[44] 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 there is a need to be honest about the harm done by pretendians, especially by those who manage to fool so many people that they become iconic:^[35]

The stereotype Littlefeather embodied depended on non-Native people not knowing what they were looking at, or knowing what constitutes legitimate American Indian identity. There is a pattern that "pretendians" follow: They exploit people's lack of knowledge about who American Indian people are by perpetuating ambiguity in a number of ways. Self-identification, or even DNA tests, for instance, obscure the fact that American Indians have not only a cultural relationship to a specific tribe and the United States but a legal one. Pretendians rarely can name any people they are related to in a Native community or in their family tree. They also just blatantly lie. Pretendianism is particularly prevalent in entertainment, publishing and academia. [...] Harm is caused when resources and even jobs go to fakes instead of the people they were intended for.^[35]

There are several possible explanations for why people adopt pretendian identities.Mnikȟówožu Lakota poetTrevino Brings Plenty 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."^[9]Helen Lewis, wrote inThe Atlantic that perhaps personal trauma from unrelated events in their lives, such as a difficult upbringing, may motivate hoaxers to desire to be publicly perceived as victims of oppression – to identify with those they see as victims rather than the perpetrators.^[45]

Patrick Wolfe argues that the problem is more structural, stating thatsettler colonial ideology actively needs to erase and then reproduceIndigenous identity in order to create and justify claims to land and territory.^[46]Deloria also explores the white American dual fascination with "the vanishing Indian" and the idea that by "Playing Indian", the white man can then be the true inheritor and preserver of authentic American identity and connection to the land, aka "Indianness".^[47]

AcademicsKim TallBear (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate),Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville), Rowland Robinson (Menominee), as well as journalistJacqueline Keeler (Navajo Nation) and attorneyJean Teillet (great-grandniece ofLouis Riel) also namewhite supremacy, in addition to ongoing settler colonialism, as core factors in the phenomenon.^{[36][35][48][49][50][51]} InSettler Colonialism + Native Ghosts – "Community, Pretendians, & Heartbreak", Robinson posits that

Quite often this seems to be a cynical ploy towards some kind of anti-Indigenous political programme, as Darryl Leroux and others have demonstrated quite convincingly and handily regarding the explosion of groups in eastern Ontario, Québec, the Maritimes, and parts of New England (2019) where quite often the absolutely astronomical growth in new claimants of Indigeneity can be clearly traced back to white supremacist, anti-Native, political projects in opposition to Aboriginal and Treaty rights. The assumption of Indigenous identity, through the growth of the so-called "Eastern Métis" movement, is clearly, at least in terms of its foundational leadership and organizational nature, antagonistic at a fundamental level towards Indigenous peoples and livelihoods.^[49]

In October 2022, Teillet published the report,Indigenous Identity Fraud, for theUniversity of Saskatchewan.^[52] Discussing her research, she wrote for theGlobe and Mail,

Who are these people? In the academy and government, they are mostly white women. In the hunting and fishing realm, they are mostly white men. ... What these claims have in common is that they are entirely disconnected from any living Indigenous people.^[51]

Why do they do it? Indigenous impersonation is not an accident. People do it to get something they want – to stop Indigenous people from closing a land claim, to access hunting and fishing rights, or to gain access to jobs. And the payoff is well worth it. Imposters in the academy gain six-figure jobs, prestige, grants and tenure in exchange for a few lies. This kind of impersonation can only be carried out by those with immense privilege. It takes a person with enough knowledge of the gaps in the system to exploit them. It is also another colonial act. If colonialism has not eradicated Indigenous people by starvation, residential schools, the reserve system, taking their lands and languages, scooping their children, and doing everything to assimilate Indigenous peoples, then the final act is to become them. It's a perverse kind of reverse assimilation.^[51]

In Canada in 2024, Karima Manji and her two daughters, a non-Indigenous family, were charged with defrauding the Nunavut government of over $150,000 by claiming Inuit identity.^[53] Manji must serve jail time as a result.^[54]

In Canada in 2024, the government funding Tri-agency (including theNSERC,SSHRC, andCIHR) announced an 8-month pilot project to ensure that grants, awards, and jobs intended for Indigenous people go to those that are genuinely Indigenous.^[55]

Individuals who have been accused of being pretendians include:

• Ward Churchill^[56][57] (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.^[58][59][60]
• Qwo-Li Driskill (Paul Edward Driskill) (born 1975)^[61] – Former Associate Professor at Oregon State University claiming to be Cherokee,Lenape (Delaware),Osage,Lumbee and African.^[62] Driskill resigned from their position in September 2024, after accusations of academic misconduct and misrepresentation of their ethnicity.^[63]
• Nadya Gill and Amira Gill (twins born in 1998) – In September 2023, the twins, along with their mother, were charged with two counts of fraud for posing as adopted Inuit children in order to benefit from the 1993 Nunavut Agreement, which entitles Inuit students to benefits and scholarships, which the twins erroneously claimed.^[64] Before their deception was uncovered, the twins had been awarded over $158,000 in benefits.^[65] In February 2024, charges were dropped against the twins after their mother pled guilty to one count of fraud.^[66] In June 2024, the twins' mother was sentenced to 3 years in prison.^[67]
• Elizabeth Hoover^[68] – University of California Berkeley professor and Native food sovereignty activist with documented childhood identification as Native and involvement within Native culture. Following questions about her ancestry, Hoover conducted her own family genealogical research. She then announced in 2022 that she was not Native American, adding that she had been mistaken about her ancestry. Hoover did not resign from her university position.^[69][70]
• Kay LeClaire –Madison, Wisconsin-based co-owner of "an Indigenous and queer art and tattoo space" who held a paid residency at theUniversity of Wisconsin. LeClaire, who has also gone by the name Kathryn Le Claire and the self-chosen spirit namenibiiwakamigkwe,^[71] misrepresented themself astwo spirit and was paid to educate students and LGBTQ audiences aboutfood sovereignty,Indigenous queer identity, and the dangers ofcultural appropriation. They were briefly a member of a state task force focused onMissing and Murdered Indigenous Women. LeClaire has since resigned and the tattoo collective has apologized to the community for the harm that they say was done by LeClaire, stating that they have cut all ties with LeClaire.^[72][73][71]
• Susan Taffe Reed^[74] – Former director ofDartmouth College's Native American Program. Fired in 2015 "after tribal officials and alumni accused her of misrepresenting herself as an American Indian".^[75]
• Andrea Smith^[2] – Smith 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.^{[76][77][78][79]} Smith has been employed as a professor in the Department ofEthnic Studies atUniversity of California, Riverside. In August 2023, the university announced that she would resign from the university as anemerita professor in August 2024, due to charges that she "made fraudulent claims to Native American identity in violation of the Faculty Code of Conduct provisions concerning academic integrity".^[80]
• Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (born 1963)^[81][82][83]  – A lawyer, academic, and former judge, for whom false claims to Indigenous ancestry were alleged by theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2022. She was dismissed from a university faculty position, and various honors and awards that she had received were revoked or relinquished, including all her 11 honorary degrees and theOrder of Canada. However, in 2024, theLaw Society of British Columbia released a report which stated thatDNA analysis indicated that Turpell-Lafond most likely had recent Indigenous ancestry, while confirming she had made numerous "mischaracterizations" in her credentials.^[84]

• Chief Thundercloud (1899 – 1955)
• Mona Darkfeather (1882 – 1977)
• "Iron Eyes" Cody^[57] (1904–1999)^[85][86] – BornEspera Oscar de Corti, and later becoming known as "The Crying Indian", this Italian-American actor is most well known for his appearance in a 1970's anti-littering PSA. Cody pretended to be from various tribes and denied his Italian heritage for the rest of his life.
• Johnny Depp (born 1963)^[87][48][88] – This actor has claimed bothCreek andCherokee descent on numerous occasions, including when cast asTonto in the 2013 filmThe Lone Ranger, but has no documented Native ancestry, is not a citizen in any tribe,^[89] and is regarded as "a non-Indian"^[90][91] and a "pretendian" by Native leaders.^[88][87][48] During the promotion forThe Lone RangerLaDonna Harris, a member of theComanche Nation, adopted Depp, making him her honorary son, but not a member of any tribe.^[92]
• Michelle Latimer – Canadian actress and film director whose claims of Indigenous ancestry and tribal membership have been questioned by the CBC,^[93] the Globe and Mail^[94] and other media.^[95] Latimer has said that her identification as Indigenous rested on the oral history of her maternal grandfather.^[96] A previously commissioned show was cancelled by CBC after Latimer's misrepresentations were made public.^[97] Latimer later produced genealogical records to bolster her claim that she was a 'non-status Algonquin'; these claims were rejected by tribal leaders.^[98] However, one genealogical researcher has found that Latimer had two Indigenous ancestors dating from 1644,^[96][99] while others have found that Latimer has Indigenous ancestry from both her paternal and maternal lines that originate from a "historical community of Baskatong that was known for its Algonquin and Métis population."^[100] In 2020, Latimer apologized for having claimed historical roots to the Kitigan Zibi community.^[101]
• Sacheen Littlefeather^[57] (1946–2022) – BornMaria Louise Cruz, this actress took the stage inPlains-style attire at theAcademy Awards to decline the 1972Best Actor award on behalf ofMarlon Brando forThe Godfather, on being hired by him to do so and advocate for Native American rights. Subsequently presenting herself throughout her life as aWhite Mountain Apache andYaqui as she had portrayed on-stage, who had grown up in a hovel without a toilet, her sisters and others later said her father was aMexican-American of Spanish descent with no known ancestors who had a tribal identity in Mexico, while her mother was of French, German, and Dutch descent.^[43] An investigation by the Navajo writer-activistJacqueline Keeler and her team, and reviewed by academics prior to publication, revealed no apparent ties to any tribe in the United States.^[43][44][35]
• Heather Rae (born 1966)^[102] – BornHeather Rae Bybee, having falsely claimed to be Cherokee, Rae became a prominent producer in Hollywood. She ran the Indigenous program at theSundance Institute from 1996 to 2001, producing a number of projects centered around Native American experiences including the Oscar-nominatedFrozen River (2008).^[103] She serves on theAcademy of Motion Pictures' Indigenous alliance, which "recognizes self-identification"^[102] for Native American identity. She has supported the casting of pretendians in Native roles – defending Kelsey Asbille Chow's false claim of Cherokee heritage,^[103] as well as leading the charge for an apology by the Academy to fellow pretendianSacheen Littlefeather.^[102][104] She is an adviser for IllumiNative,^[103] which says they are a "Native woman-led racial and social justice organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of—and challenging the narrative about—Native peoples".^[105] TheCherokee Nation has stated that Rae is not a citizen of their nation and she did not receive funding for the filmFancy Dance (2023), which they funded.^[102] Research by theTribal Alliance Against Frauds into her public family records shows that Rae's family identified as white across multiple records and no documented ties to a tribal community.^[103]
• Buffy Sainte-Marie^[57] (born 1941) – BornBeverly Jean Santamaria, Sainte-Marie is an American musician who has said since 1963 that she hasCreeIndigenous Canadian roots. A 2023 investigation byCBC News featured her birth certificate, which stated that she had been born inStoneham, Massachusetts of European ancestry and that the couple who she had asserted were her adoptive parents were in fact her biological parents.^[106][107] In the 1960s, she had performed at a powwow and falsely claimed that she might be the long-lost daughter of aPiapot First Nation family; a couple she met there then adopted her into their family and still claim her to this day.^{[108][106][107]} For about 60 years, she built a career in part on her claimed Canadian and Native heritage. She was introduced as a regular character on theSesame Street television series in 1975, at which time she stated that "Cree Indians are my tribe, and we live in Canada".^[108] The CBC investigation concluded that "her account of her ancestry has been a shifting narrative, full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies".^[108]

• Chief White Elk (1888–1944)
• Joseph Boyden (born 1966)^{[109][110][10]} – A Canadian novelist, Boyden has claimedMi'kmaq,Métis,Nipmuc, andOjibway heritage. He registered with theOntario Métis Aboriginal Association, also known as the Woodland Métis Tribe.^[111] In January 2017, Boyden said he had erroneously identified himself as Mi'kmaq in the past and that he was a "white kid with native roots".^[112][113]
• Asa Earl Carter (1925–1979)^[114][115] – Published using the pseudonym Forrest Carter as a supposedCherokee. The founder of aKu Klux Klan paramilitary group and awhite supremacist politician under his birth name, he used his pseudonym to write popular books includingThe Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales andThe Education of Little Tree. Also known for co-authoringGeorge Wallace's tagline, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever".
• Grey Owl (1888–1938)^[7][17][18] – An Englishman born asArchibald 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.
• Roxy Gordon – an American writer and musician who identified as being of white,Choctaw, andAssiniboine ancestry. A report fromTexas Monthly alleged that he was a pretendian, concluding that he had no Native American heritage. TheChoctaw Nation of Oklahoma has stated that Gordon was not enrolled with the tribe. Gordon's son John Calvin has stated that he has found no evidence that his father had Choctaw heritage.^[116]
• Jamake Highwater (1931–2001)^{[117][118][119]} – A prolific American writer and journalist born asJackie Marks who passed as Cherokee and used Native American culture as his writing theme, although he was actually of eastern European Jewish ancestry.
• Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (1890–1932)^[120] – The persona of the African-American journalist, writer, and film actorSylvester Clark Long, who falsely claimed Blackfoot and Cherokee heritage.
• Brooke Medicine Eagle (born 1943)^[121]  – the pseudonym ofBrooke Edwards, an American author, singer-songwriter, and teacher specializing in aNew Ageinterpretation of Native American religion.
• Nasdijj (born 1950)^{[122][123][124]} – The pseudonym of writerTim Barrus, an American author and social worker best known for having published three "memoirs" between 2000 and 2004 while presenting himself as aNavajo.
• Red Thunder Cloud (1919–1996)^[125] – BornCromwell Ashbie Hawkins West, also known as Carlos Westez, a singer, dancer, storyteller, and field researcher who was promoted as the last fluent speaker of theCatawba language, 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 asStanisław Supłatowicz, was a writer, artist, and soldier who served duringWorld War II, who claimed to be ofPolish andShawnee descent. His origins were heavily disputed.^[126]
• Margaret Seltzer (born 1975)^[127][128] – The writer of a "memoir" of her supposed experiences as a half–Native American foster child and gang member inSouth Central Los Angeles was later revealed to have completely fabricated the story after growing up in an affluent neighborhood with no Native American background or heritage.
• Hyemeyohsts Storm (real nameCharles Storm orArthur C. Storm, born 1931 or 1935) is an author of German ancestry variously claimingCheyenne,Sioux,Crow, andMétis ancestry, but has not provided credible evidence for these claims.^{[129][130][131]} He is considered by many to be aplastic shaman,^[132][133] and actual Cheyenne consider his purporting to present Cheyenne religion in his works as blasphemous, exploitative, disrespectful, stereotypical, and racist.^[130][134] When challenged, he presented a fraudulent Cheyenne enrollment card to his publisher,Harper and Row.^[130] Historians have criticizedSeven Arrows as falsifying and desecrating the traditions of the Cheyenne due to the numerous errors in his descriptions.^[135] He is known for inventing themedicine wheel symbol in his book,Seven Arrows (originally published as non-fiction but later reclassified as fiction in a settlement between the publisher and the Cheyenne tribe).^{[130][135][131][136][137][138]}
• Erika T. Wurth is a novelist who self-identifies as being ofApache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent whose novelWhite Horse was reviewed favorably inThe New York Times.^[139] Native American activists have alleged that Wurth is white and has no Native American ancestry.^[140][141]

• Kaya Jones (born 1984)^[142] – A singer and model who joined theNational Diversity Coalition for Trump as their "Native American Ambassador"; she falsely claimed to beApache.^{[142][143][144]}
• Kevin Klein – Manitoba politician whose ongoing claims of Metis ancestry were debunked in a July 31, 2023, piece by theCBC.^[145][146]
• Sherri Rollins – Winnipeg City Councillor whose ongoing claims^[147] of being "...a proud Huron-Wendat woman" were refuted in a CBC article.^[148] as well as onAPTN News, both published on November 23, 2018.^[149]
• Danielle Smith – Premier of Alberta who claimed to have aCherokee great-great-grandmother who was a victim of theTrail of Tears. An investigation fromAPTN National News found no evidence that Smith's ancestors were Indigenous or victims of the Trail of Tears.^[150]
• Elizabeth Warren (born 1949) – AU.S. Senator and presidential candidate who said she grew up believing she had Cherokee and Delaware ancestry due to family members saying so, and then claimed such heritage publicly. After her heritage was called into question, she attempted to support her claim by releasing a video withDNA analysis, but her DNA claims were rejected by the Cherokee Nation,^[151] which formally requires a documented lineage.^[70] Then-Cherokee Nation Secretary of StateChuck Hoskin Jr. (who became Principal Chief of the Nation in the following year) commented, "Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong".^[152] Warren eventually expressed regret and apologized for "claiming American Indian heritage".^{[153][154][155]}
• Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (born 1963) – A Canadian lawyer, former judge, and advocate who falsely claimedTreaty Indian status as aCree Nation member.^[156][157]

• Gina Adams (born 1965)^[158][159] – A visual artist and assistant professor atEmily Carr University,^[160] Adams claimsWhite Earth Ojibwe andLakota ancestry,^[33] and that her grandfather lived on theWhite Earth Indian Reservation and was removed at age eight to attendCarlisle Indian Industrial School,^[33][161] 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."^[33] Adams has also claimed that her great-great-grandfather was Ojibwe chiefWabanquot (1830–1898),^[33] a signer of the1867 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 (1940–2021)^[78][162] – An artist and activist who claimed one-quarterCherokee 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 1990 passage of theIndian Arts and Crafts Act (which prohibits false claims of Native production of arts and crafts that are offered for sale). He subsequently left the United States and continued to falsely claim Cherokee status in European exhibitions. He had formerly been an organizer and central committee member for theAmerican Indian Movement, and worked as the chief administrator for theInternational Indian Treaty Council. He was found 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.^[78][162]
• Yeffe Kimball (1906–1978)^[163] – An artist who claimed to beOsage. BornEffie Goodman, under her assumed identity she made art that she misrepresented as Native American, and also engaged in Native American political activism.
• Cheyanne Turions^{[164][165][disputed –discuss]} – An artist and art curator who claimed anIndigenous Canadian 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.^[166]

• Edgar Laplante (1888 – 1944), an American-born French-Canadian con man and actor known for hisconfidence tricks.

• 1896 Applications for Enrollment, Five Tribes (Overturned)
• Australian Aboriginal identity
• Cherokee descent
• Cherokee Nation Truth in Advertising for Native Art, a law passed by the Cherokee Nation about marketing products as Indian-made
• Eatock v Bolt, an Australian case involving writings that suggested false claims of Aboriginal descent
• Eastern Métis
• Guion Miller Roll
• Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990
• Indian arts and crafts laws
• Índia pega no laço
• List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes
• Native American identity in the United States
• Native Americans in German popular culture
• Passing (racial identity)
• Plastic shaman
• Racial misrepresentation
• Category:People who self-identify as being of Indigenous descent
• Reel Injun – A 2009 Canadian documentary film about the portrayal of Native Americans in Hollywood films
• Qalipu First Nation
• The Pretendians, a Canadian television documentary film

• Browder, Laura.Slippery Characters: Ethnic Impersonators and American Identities. Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
• Chavers, Dean. "Around the Campfire: Fake Indians".Native Times, 2013.
• Foster, John Wilson. "Pretendians and the Crisis of the Self".The Critic, June 4, 2023.
• Gaudry, Adam. "Communing with the Dead: The 'New Métis,' Métis Identity Appropriation, and the Displacement of Living Métis Culture.".American Indian Quarterly, 42, no. 2 (2018): pp. 162–90
• Leroux, Darryl.Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity.University of Manitoba Press, 2019.
• Leroux, Darryl. "Inventing an Indigenous People in Algonquin Territory".Canadian Journal of History, vol 56, pp. 71–72, 2021.
• Leroux, Darryl. "Self-made Métis".Maisonneuve, 2018.
• Reese, Debbie.Native? Or, not? A Resource List.American Indians in Children's Literature, February 2021.
• Robinson, Rowland.Settler Colonialism + Native Ghosts: An Autoethnographic Account of the Imaginarium of Late Capitalist/Colonialist Storytelling, "Chapter 4. Interlude: Community, Pretendians, & Heartbreak".Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo, 2020.
• Sturm, Circe.Becoming Indian: The Struggle Over Cherokee Identity in the Twenty-First Century. Santa Fe:School for Advanced Research, 2010.
• TallBear, Kim.Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science.University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
• Tuck, Eve; Yang, K. Wayne. "Decolonization is not a metaphor".Moves to Innocence I: Settler Nativism, pp. 10–13. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2012.

Look uppretendian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• APTN Investigates: Cowboys and PretendiansAPTN National News television report featuring many of the examples in this article, notably those in film
• The Convenient "Pretendian",Canada Land podcast
• Ghost Warrior Society, an anti-Pretendian task force based in Canada
• "Indigenous 'Race Shifting' Red Flags: A Quick Primer for Reporters and Others", byKim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton)
• "Playing Pretendian", Code Switch, NPR
• Pretendians and Their Impact on Métis Identity in the Academy -University of Saskatchewan panel discussion includingMaria Campbell (Métis) - December 10, 2021
• The Pretendian Problem -Indian Country Today video report on pretendians and fake Métis - January 28, 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 eight panel presentations in Spring 2022, atMichigan State University.
  • Unmasking Pseudo Indians: Opening Remarks at by George Cornell (Ojibwe),Ben Barnes (Shawnee), Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton) - March 21, 2022
• Teillet Report on Indigenous Identity Fraud - October 2022 report for theUniversity of Saskatchewan
• Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, an intertribal anti-fraud task force

• Literary forgeries
• Racial impostors
• Multiracial affairs in the United States
• Native American-related controversies
• Indigenous cultural appropriation
• Native American cultural appropriation
• Race in Canada
• Genealogical fraud
• Self-identification as Indigenous in Canada
• Self-identification as Indigenous in the United States
• Ethnic and religious slurs

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