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- Pretendians and Publications: The Problem and Solutions to Redface Research
- Pinasunniq: Reflections on a Northern Indigenous Economy
- From Risk to Resilience: Indigenous Alternatives to Climate Risk Assessment in Canada
- Twenty-Five Years of Gladue: Indigenous ‘Over-Incarceration’ & the Failure of the Criminal Justice System on the Grand River
- Calls to Action Accountability: A 2023 Status Update on Reconciliation
- Data Colonialism in Canada’s Chemical Valley
- Bad Forecast: The Illusion of Indigenous Inclusion and Representation in Climate Adaptation Plans in Canada
- Indigenous Food Sovereignty in Ontario: A Study of Exclusion at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs
- Indigenous Land-Based Education in Theory & Practice
- Between Membership & Belonging: Life Under Section 10 of the Indian Act
- Redwashing Extraction: Indigenous Relations at Canada’s Big Five Banks
- Treaty Interpretation in the Age of Restoule
- A Culture of Exploitation: “Reconciliation” and the Institutions of Canadian Art
- Bill C-92: An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families
- COVID-19, the Numbered Treaties & the Politics of Life
- The Rise of the First Nations Land Management Regime: A Critical Analysis
- The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Lessons from B.C.
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Indigenous Studies, as a discipline, has rapidly grown in the past few decades. Yet a troubling trend has more recently emerged: the rise of “pretendians” — individuals fraudulently claiming Indigenous identity and misrepresenting Indigenous research, threatening the integrity of Indigenous Studies broadly.
Pretendians and Publications: The Problem and Solutions to Redface Research examines how academic pretendians distort research, misappropriate resources, and undermine the goals and values of authentic Indigenous communities. These authors also look at how the institutions that shape the academy nurture and perpetuate this phenomenon. Who truly belongs? is a more urgent question than ever. Pretendians exploit these institutions, weak identity verification processes, and insufficient cultural competence in research, funding agencies, and ethics boards. The report argues for more rigorous, community-led identity verification, with Indigenous voices guiding these policies. It emphasizes the need for culturally competent data collection practices to ensure research is both authentic and accountable. This work is a call to action to more formally challenge the academy to address these harms — not just through policy enforcement, but by safeguarding Indigenous self-determination and communities themselves from exploitation. Institutions and individuals must take responsibility for preventing identity fraud and championing the authenticity and dignity of Indigenous peoples.
KEY QUESTIONS
How does the phenomenon of pretendianism undermine the integrity of Indigenous knowledge and perpetuate settler-colonial frameworks in research, scholarship and academia more broadly?
How can academic institutions take meaningful accountability for their role in perpetuating “red-faced research” while simultaneously supporting Indigenous-led research?
RELATED RESOURCES
Indigenous Studies, as it’s expressed in the contemporary academy, is relatively new. Driven by growing numbers of Indigenous students and the re-articulation of Indigenous research methods and pedagogies, there is now a critical mass of Indigenous scholars in Canada. But there is a preoccupation among those scholars: Who among us actually belongs?
- Amy Shawanda and Gabriel maracle
AUTHOR

Amy Shawanda
Anishinaabe, Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory
AUTHOR

Gabriel Maracle
Kanien'kehá:ka, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
ARTIST

Sonny Assu
Ligwiłda’xw of the
Kwakwaka’wakw Nations