Racial misrepresentation
Racial or ethnic misrepresentation occurs when someone deliberately misrepresents their racial or ethnic background. It may occur for a variety of reasons, such as someone attempting to benefit from affirmative action programs for which they are not eligible.
Critical race theory examines how people of European descent are, in recent history, more likely to pretend to be people of color. However, historically, many people of color passed as white for survival and safety. It is possible for a person of any race or ethnicity to misrepresent themselves or be misrepresented.
Often racial misrepresentation occurs when people of one race or ethnicity, unfamiliar with real people of another culture, replicate the racial stereotypes of that racial or ethnic group. Typically, this is seen as offensive when negative racial stereotypes are mimicked, but it can be also be experienced as inappropriate even when the imitation is intended as flattery. An example of this is people wearing culturally insensitive Halloween costumes that depict these stereotypes.
Notable cases
- H. G. Carrillo
- Asa Earl Carter
- Ward Churchill
- "Iron Eyes" Cody
- Misha Defonseca (Monique de Wael)
- Rachel Dolezal
- Jimmie Durham
- Anita Florence Hemmings
- Jamake Highwater
- Marie Sophie Hingst
- Margaret B. Jones (Margaret Seltzer)
- Jessica Krug
- Nasdijj (Timothy Patrick Barrus)
- Merle Oberon
- Grey Owl
- Korla Pandit
- Herman Rosenblat
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Sacheen Littlefeather
- Andrea Smith
- Vianne Timmons
- Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond
- Elizabeth Warren