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Revision as of 06:36, 8 June 2021
Pretendian is a term frequently used for people who have falsely claimed to be citizens of Native American tribal nations, or to be descended from Native ancestors. As a practice, it is a form of cultural appropriation.
History
Historian Philip Deloria has noted that European Americans "playing Indian" is a phenomenon that stretches back at least as far as the Boston Tea Party [1]. In his book Playing Indian, Deloria argues that white settlers have always played with stereotypical imagery of the peoples that were replaced during colonization, using these tropes to form a new national identity that can be seen as distinct from previous European identities. Patrick Wolfe goes further, arguing that settler colonialism actively needs to erase and then reproduce Indigenous identity in order to create and justify claims to land and territory.[2]
Examples of white societies who have played Indian include, according to Deloria, the Improved Order of Red Men, Tammany Hall, and scouting societies like the Order of the Arrow. Individuals who made careers out of pretending an Indigenous identity include James Beckwourth, Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance and Grey Owl.
Joel W. Martin notes 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 aligning American frontier romance with southern regionalism and pride.[3]
Post 1969
The rise of pretendian identities post-1960's can be explained by a number of factors. The reestablishment and exercise of tribal sovereignty among tribal nations (following the era of Indian termination policy) meant that many individuals raised away from tribal communities sought to reestablish their status as tribal citizens. Other tribal citizens, who had been raised in American Indian boarding schools under genocidal policies designed to erase their cultural identity, also revived tribal religious and cultural practices. At the same time, in the years following the Occupation of Alcatraz, the formation of Native American Studies as a distinct form of area studies, and the awarding of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction to Kiowa author N Scott Momaday, publishing programs and university departments began to be established specifically for or about Native American culture. At the same time, hippie and New Age cultures marketed Native cultures as accessible, spiritual, and as a form of resistance to mainstream culture, leading to the rise of the plastic shaman.
Alleged Pretendians spreadsheet
Journalist Jacqueline Keeler has published a list of alleged pretendians, noting that "Everyone on this list monetizes their claims to tribal identity and/or speaks for American Indian Tribes on a national or international level."[4]
Notable examples
Evidence regarding each of these examples is given on the linked pages.
Literary
Academic
Political
See also
References
- ^ Deloria, Philip J. (1999). Playing Indian. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 64–8, 91, 101, et al. ISBN 9780300080674. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
- ^ Patrick Wolfe (2006) Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409, DOI: 10.1080/14623520601056240
- ^ Joel W. Martin. ″′My Grandmother Was a Cherokee Princess′: Representations of Indians in Southern History.″ In Dressing in Feathers: The Construction of the Indian in Popular Culture, ed. Elizabeth Bird (London: Routledge 1996).
- ^ Jacqueline Keeler. ″The Alleged Pretendians List"[1]