"Right now there's only quarter-bloods and half-bloods and a lot of them that say they are. All of a sudden it's fashionable to be an Indian. This statement, made by Olivas himself in a video called Grandfather Speaks, reveals the irony of his own fraudulent claims while critiquing others' indigenous identity assertions."
"According to Brian Haley, a professor of anthropology at State University of New York at Oneonta, Olivas descended from California's early colonists. "Semu" was known simply as Paul until the 1960s, when the Los Angeles Times ran a story in which he claimed he was the last full-blooded Chumash from the Santa Barbara Channel Islands."
"The story of Olivas' transformation into "Grandfather Semu" is a common, if extreme, example of how American Indian ethnic fraud, aka "pretendianism," has become commonplace in the United States. This phenomenon intensified in the 20th century on California's Central Coast - the original homelands of the Chumash people - motivated by a complex mix of a desire for attention, a need for cultural identity and the appetite for material gain."
Paul Olivas, born into a Spanish-Mexican working-class family near Ventura, California, reinvented himself as "Semu Huaute," claiming to be the last full-blooded Chumash in the 1960s. A Los Angeles Times story amplified his false narrative, asserting he spoke no English until age nine and served as an intertribal medicine man. Anthropological research reveals Olivas descended from California's early colonists, contradicting his claims of indigenous heritage. His transformation exemplifies widespread American Indian ethnic fraud, or "pretendianism," intensified throughout the 20th century on California's Central Coast. This phenomenon stems from complex motivations including desire for attention, cultural identity needs, and material gain. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash remains California's only federally recognized Chumash tribal nation.
#american-indian-ethnic-fraud #chumash-identity #pretendianism #indigenous-authenticity #california-tribal-history
Read at High Country News
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