Ohio is home to relatively few citizens of federally recognized tribes, especially citizens from the nations removed from the state in the 19th century, like the Shawnee, Miami, and Wyandotte.
That absence has led to dozens of so-called “remnant tribes” popping up in the state whose members claim to have American Indian ancestry.
Some American Indian people and academics have called the people in these unrecognized groups “pretendians.” While to some it may seem innocuous, pretendians in Ohio have, based on their unverified or non-existent identity, made money, accessed ancestral funerary objects and remains, and spread false and harmful information about American Indian people.
In this episode, we define tribal citizenship, look at some of the damage done by pretendians in Ohio, and highlight the work of the citizens of federally recognized tribes correcting those situations.
Serpent Mound
To learn more about the 2021 Summer Solstice at Serpent Mound (the first year the site was managed by the Ohio History Connection), read this report from Indian Country Today's Mary Annette Pember.
Chief Ben Barnes of The Shawnee Tribe and Ohio History Connection Archaeology Curator Dr. Brad Lepper also co-published an article about the history of Serpent Mound in 2021.
(Un)settling Genealogies Conference
Click on the video below to watch Chief Barnes' entire presentation. The other presentations from the conference are also available on the Michigan State University English Department's YouTube channel.
Several academics have written about pretendianism, including Dr. Circe Sturm and Dr. Kim TallBear.
Indigenous journalists have long reported on the issue of false tribal identity and how it affects their communities. Check out the Pretendians podcast from Canadaland below for a recent example, hosted by Robert Jago (Kwantlen First Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe) and Angel Ellis (Muscogee (Creek) Nation).
Fair at New Boston
Caesar's Ford Theatre is an Ohio-based, American Indian-led performing arts nonprofit working to connect citizens of federally recognized tribes with historical interpretation opportunities in their homelands.
Caesar's Ford has attempted to work with the George Rodgers Clark Heritage Association and the National Trail Park and Recreation District to create a policy similar to the Ohio History Connection's 2019 American Indian Policy for the annual Fair at New Boston in Clark County, Ohio (i.e., requiring historical interpreters who represent themselves as Native American at the fair to be citizens of federally recognized tribes). The heritage association and the park district have been unwilling to adopt such a policy, which puts both organizations at odds with resolutions from The Shawnee Tribe and The Delaware Tribe of Indians that oppose "redface" and non-Shawnee/Delaware representing themselves as such to the public.
