Thread by @ERuleDC

As promised, here’s my advice for Native grad students navigating a pretendian professor, based on my own experience 🧵 #NativeTwitter #pretendian #AcademicTwitter

https://twitter.com/ERuleDC/status/1583974531026145280

1. Prioritize self-care: Native students (current and former), you are who I’m most concerned about. First and foremost, take space to heal, acknowledging that there is real harm perpetrated by Indigenous identity fraud.

You may have to process gaslighting or work through performative displays of Indigeneity that perpetuated stereotypes. Now is a good time to lean on a safe, supportive network outside the institution where this transgression of your trust occurred.

2. Hang in there: Do your best to not let the actions of others knock you off course from achieving your goals. I’ve thought a lot about this as it relates to my own pretendian advisor. What if I had quit my PhD program because I had been so disheartened or intimidated by her?

What if I had dropped out because her actions made me feel like I didn’t belong—like I wasn’t smart enough, or Native enough, or prepared enough, or just “enough” for grad school? Especially when, in reality, her identity was false? Native students, you ARE enough!

We hear a lot about imposter syndrome and Native students thinking their acceptance to grad school was a mistake. The only “mistake” here is your professor lying about their identity.

Take up space, get support from your institution to finish your program, and move on in your career. (I can’t wait to see what you’ll do—I know it’s going to be great!)

3. Diversify your support networks: Having a pretendian advisor really illuminates the importance of deciding who you’ll work with in grad school, so don’t make this decision lightly. These profs have a lot of control over your quality of life as a grad student for ~6+ years.

Grad school is not like undergrad where you “anonymously” take a class; it’s the opposite. Grad school is all about strategic relationships with faculty: you take a class to know if you want them on your committee (or not), and increase the odds they’ll agree if you ask.

Advisors will also write you letters of recommendation. For years. For jobs. And money in the form of fellowships. Letters you never see. So you must have trust. These are some material consequences of having an advisor break trust by falsely identifying as someone they’re not.

With ethnic fraud being a serious issue, my advice to Native grad students is to identify multiple profs you want to work with. These are the folks who tangibly supported me when my relationship with another faculty member (who later admitted to faking Native identity) fell out.

With a diversified faculty support network, you also reduce your risk in the event that one prof is discredited, leaves, or gets into conflict with you. You’ll have a whole team that can rally for you, ensuring your academic career doesn’t suffer due to someone else’s issues.

4. Keep perspective: All academics know grad school is a weird place. It is long and intense, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in stress and comparisons with your peers. My advice is to not let grad school consume you by finding/keeping a non-school source of happiness.

This can be staying in touch with family and (non-school) friends, getting off campus, doing something for your health, practicing a hobby, or participating in a cultural activity. Whatever you like that is not related to school!

A non-academic source of happiness will help you stay in touch with your own guiding motivators so that if you get bad advice, you will have the perspective and mindset to not blindly go along with it or act out of fear or lose sight of why you’re in school in the first place.

My own advisor, who we now know is a pretendian, tried to dissuade me from being involved with my tribe during the summers. If I had taken that advice on her authority alone, I would have missed some of the best opportunities of my career and would simply not be where I am today.

Keeping one foot outside academia will also remind you that your identity, your personhood, and your value has nothing to do with your academic performance. Maintaining a sense of self that is detached from school will help you ride the highs and lows of the experience with ease.

5. Resist demands on your time and labor to deal with ethnic fraud issues. As a student, your job is you—it’s not to fix your department or university. Especially as a Native student, they likely look to you to fix all Native-related issues already. Engage only as it helps you.

Be discerning in selecting service opportunities that help you achieve your big picture goals. Universities have full-time staff dedicated to many of these issues and if they don’t already, they should make good on the their commitment to Native communities and hire some folks.

There is nothing wrong with declining service invitations. If you do want to get involved, however, that’s great too—but make sure it works for you, and that you’re not just working for it.

Ethnic fraud illuminates the systemic issues facing Native peoples in society at large and in academia in particular. It showcases the need for institutional support for Native students, faculty, and staff, especially related to retention of Native folks who have been harmed.

Ethnic fraud also highlights the need for universities to move beyond performance acts and instead to learn about colonialism. It reveals the need for direct, reciprocal engagement with tribal communities. Pretendian professor cases point to a deficit in both of these areas.

In summary, my advice to Native grad students navigating Pretendian professors is 1) self-care validating harm, 2) stay the course for your goals, 3) diversify your faculty support, 4) keep perspective with non-school sources of happiness, and 5) resist demands on time and labor.

My intention with this advice is to uplift Native grad students who are likely disheartened, disillusioned, and discouraged about academia in the wake of ethnic fraud cases.

I created this list by drawing on my own past as a Native grad student who had a troubling experience working with a prof who years later admitted to not being Indigenous after all, and to help with insight now that I’m on the other side as a Chickasaw faculty member myself.