The Rise of Fauxcahontas: Increase in Unsubstantiated Claims of Native American Ancestry Have Begun to Plague Faculties in Academia

The Supreme Court is addressing the issue of affirmative action in admissions. However, perverse incentives have produced a different type of perverse outcome. Last week, College Fix reported about a wave of “Pretendians,” Or what we call it “Fauxcohontas” Elizabeth Warren: The case of posturing An increase in Native American ancestry claims that are not supported Academia has been plagued by these problems:

AncestorStealing is a method of preserving the ancestral past. Website that has researched and outed a parade of alleged fake Indians, argues it’s done for notoriety, profit and gain: “It’s all about the money. Wurth has profited greatly from claiming this ‘Native’ background.”

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren was ahead of her time when she wrongly claimed to be Native American to get ahead at Harvard University in the 1990s — a string of white scholars in the last several years have all done the same at their respective universities.

There’s men in the mix, but many women. Although the trend is spreading beyond academia, artists and other creative professionals are also embracing it. However, academia appears to be ground zero. It’s become so common in recent years terms such as “pretendians” “fauxcahontas” have now been invented.

Yesterday Jennifer Kabbany, editor of College Fix, joined me for a discussion about the article and the rise of unfounded claims. This is a refutation of the College Fix article. “white privilege” Argument of CRT-lovers; is it true? Or does affirmative action for hiring create a layer of perverse incentives.

This reminds Jennifer and me of the Rachel Dolezal controversy as well as Academia’s current philosophy that biological sex is a matter for individual choice. Even eight years ago, I point out, Dolezal justified her posturing as a black woman — who wound up running a local NAACP chapter in Washington — because, as she told Matt Lauer, she “identifies as black.” Did she think she was ahead of her time Is biology irrelevant to sexual identity? Can anybody argue that biology plays a role in ethnicity? If so, what role does biology play in ethnic identity? That do to the whole structure of affirmative actions in admissions as well as faculty hiring, especially in Academia

This has implications for Native American Tribes and their legal authority in identifying members of their tribes. However, there are also perverse incentives involved in this situation, particularly in the era of tribal-casino. We call him a friend, both of mine and of this site. The Original PechangaAs everyone fights for the casino revenue, he has been fighting to stop disenrollment tactics by his tribe.

Update: I neglected to link to OP’s blog, but I’ve added it now.

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