Oct 30, 2022·edited Oct 30, 2022Liked by Anne Helen Petersen
This is a fabulous interview. I loved Cyca's essay in Maclean's when it came out, and this interview reinforces my admiration. It's so difficult to show all the subtlety and complication of the issue, but Cyca succeeds. I look forward to reading more of her work.
great interview. I have an uncomfortable theory about the origins of Pretendianism, which I've also seen up close. I believe that post-grad educated, mixed race individuals are most at risk of falling for this syndrome. Their very obvious alienation from indigenous cultural traditions in their family makes the yearning and the fantasies more meaningful and desirable. When an identity is core to your everyday existence, you don't desire it or yearn for it. You certainly don't go around making sure everyone knows about it. It just is.
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (_As Long as Grass Grows_ and other work) wrote recently about interviewing Sacheen Littlefeather years ago about a possible memoir project; one thing she learned was that Littlefeather had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which doesn't make claims of indigeneity right, but Gilio-Whitaker was sympathetic, and found it curious. One of her interlocutors in turn, who works with indigenous and non-indigenous communities in mental health, said he had seen more than one white person in his care identify so strongly with Native American dispossession and trauma that they identified themselves as "actually" mixed. --It's an ongoing sympathetic conversation. Meanwhile, an anonymous tweet about Pretendians on the faculty at the Canadian university I currently work for (1.5 or 2 years ago by now) has caused an enormous amount of pain, as well as damage to academic freedom in the administration's attempts to "redress" the situation. I appreciate the interview.
As a USA resident and a pedant, I'll point out that it's Maclean's, not Macleans. I changed my comment to switch the case of the "l" but retain the apostrophe.
Thank you Anne for this amazing interview and thank you to Michelle for the nuanced responses and the McLean article. Looking forward to reading more of your work-I'm especially excited to explore SAD Mag!
I laughed out loud at the pizza link. My elementary kid describes school pizza exactly the same way (like a cereal box) AND I also went to school with a fair number of administrators who loved punishing kids.
“...those are real traumas that Indigenous people live with, and it hurts to see someone put them on like a costume for profit.” Just beautiful.
I’ve moved within and around academic Indian circles throughout most of my academic career. (And some of my teaching career as well - I taught at two different Ojibwe community colleges - my ex and my children are all enrolled members of an Ojibwe tribe). Always wary because like many, I have no card nor definitive proof of my Sicangu Lakota heritage. Just family stories and tales of a hard life for my great grandfather on the reservation. Not sure whether it was Rosebud or Lower Brule. My grandfather, uncle, and cousin were all named Brule to honor this heritage. But, is it real? At one point we scoured records and visited the historian - who gave us the names of two villages where people - likely family with the same surnames lived. But that was as close as we got.
Regardless, I have at times claimed this heritage, but, would never be so brave as to claim scholarships, positions, or any type of monetary gain, as I did not grow up with any of the disadvantages, other than plain old white poverty. Also, I saw and experienced many pretendians during my time in academics at at least three different universities. One college’s diversity person for one. Several faculty members. I could feel the disservice they were doing to the native students and the public. We all knew who they weren’t. As this article points out, it’s not that difficult to tell the genuine from the fake.
Speaking of - after the Tuesday thread, I got right on Reservation Dogs. Wow. This show = as genuine as it gets.
I was making soup and trying to supervise children using slime AND glitter while putting the finishing touches on the links yesterday — here's the link to the piece on post-capitalist design! https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-survey-of-postcapitalist-design/?utm_source=pocket_mylist
Thank you! The link to the very good puzzle also didn’t work for me. Dedicated to tracking it down because I loved every single intact link 💛
Looks like we sold out the puzzle at that retailer!!! So I put in another link to another site above
This is a fabulous interview. I loved Cyca's essay in Maclean's when it came out, and this interview reinforces my admiration. It's so difficult to show all the subtlety and complication of the issue, but Cyca succeeds. I look forward to reading more of her work.
great interview. I have an uncomfortable theory about the origins of Pretendianism, which I've also seen up close. I believe that post-grad educated, mixed race individuals are most at risk of falling for this syndrome. Their very obvious alienation from indigenous cultural traditions in their family makes the yearning and the fantasies more meaningful and desirable. When an identity is core to your everyday existence, you don't desire it or yearn for it. You certainly don't go around making sure everyone knows about it. It just is.
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (_As Long as Grass Grows_ and other work) wrote recently about interviewing Sacheen Littlefeather years ago about a possible memoir project; one thing she learned was that Littlefeather had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which doesn't make claims of indigeneity right, but Gilio-Whitaker was sympathetic, and found it curious. One of her interlocutors in turn, who works with indigenous and non-indigenous communities in mental health, said he had seen more than one white person in his care identify so strongly with Native American dispossession and trauma that they identified themselves as "actually" mixed. --It's an ongoing sympathetic conversation. Meanwhile, an anonymous tweet about Pretendians on the faculty at the Canadian university I currently work for (1.5 or 2 years ago by now) has caused an enormous amount of pain, as well as damage to academic freedom in the administration's attempts to "redress" the situation. I appreciate the interview.
As a Canadian (and a pedant), I have to point out that the magazine is “Maclean’s”, not “MacLean’s”.
As a USA resident and a pedant, I'll point out that it's Maclean's, not Macleans. I changed my comment to switch the case of the "l" but retain the apostrophe.
<shakes fist> Autocorrect!
Morning! Link for the Post Capitalist thing is not working for me?
My apologies!! Explained my snafu above but also here's the link!! https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-survey-of-postcapitalist-design/?utm_source=pocket_mylist
Never an apology needed! Just looking out for the Best Place on The Internet (BPOTI)
Thank you Anne for this amazing interview and thank you to Michelle for the nuanced responses and the McLean article. Looking forward to reading more of your work-I'm especially excited to explore SAD Mag!
I laughed out loud at the pizza link. My elementary kid describes school pizza exactly the same way (like a cereal box) AND I also went to school with a fair number of administrators who loved punishing kids.
“...those are real traumas that Indigenous people live with, and it hurts to see someone put them on like a costume for profit.” Just beautiful.
I’ve moved within and around academic Indian circles throughout most of my academic career. (And some of my teaching career as well - I taught at two different Ojibwe community colleges - my ex and my children are all enrolled members of an Ojibwe tribe). Always wary because like many, I have no card nor definitive proof of my Sicangu Lakota heritage. Just family stories and tales of a hard life for my great grandfather on the reservation. Not sure whether it was Rosebud or Lower Brule. My grandfather, uncle, and cousin were all named Brule to honor this heritage. But, is it real? At one point we scoured records and visited the historian - who gave us the names of two villages where people - likely family with the same surnames lived. But that was as close as we got.
Regardless, I have at times claimed this heritage, but, would never be so brave as to claim scholarships, positions, or any type of monetary gain, as I did not grow up with any of the disadvantages, other than plain old white poverty. Also, I saw and experienced many pretendians during my time in academics at at least three different universities. One college’s diversity person for one. Several faculty members. I could feel the disservice they were doing to the native students and the public. We all knew who they weren’t. As this article points out, it’s not that difficult to tell the genuine from the fake.
Speaking of - after the Tuesday thread, I got right on Reservation Dogs. Wow. This show = as genuine as it gets.
Reservation Dogs is SO good. Every episode in the second season made me cry (that's an endorsement).
Fantastic interview, thank you, and thanks for introducing me to the Haterade newsletter, it is so funny!