After Elizabeth Hoover was hired as an associate professor by UC Berkeley in 2020, the anthropologist was mentioned in the campus media as one of the small but growing number of Native American scholars who could help make the campus a more welcoming place for learning and research into Native American history, culture and contemporary issues.
But that promise is now mired in controversy, with Hoover admitting she’s “a White person” who “incorrectly” claimed to be Native American for her “whole life.” The situation has prompted calls for Hoover’s resignation and sparked concerns among her students and Native American scholars about UC Berkeley’s academic integrity and respect for authentic Native identity.
On Monday, Hoover issued an apology that confirmed what other Native American scholars and activists had been saying about her for more than than a year — that the Ivy League-educated expert on environmental health and food justice in Native American communities is a White person who long presented herself as a Native American academic, as she built a high-flying academic career and gained a position at one of America’s top public universities.
“I am a White person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life,” Hoover said in a lengthy statement posted on her website. In her statement and in an interview with this news organization, Hoover said she always assumed she was Native American because that’s what she was told while growing up in upstate New York. She said she never knowingly falsified her identity or tried to deceive anyone. “I’m a human,” she said. “I didn’t set out to hurt or exploit anyone.”
#elizabethhoover #pretendian pic.twitter.com/rbtyvy5l6c
— NOTORIOUS-INUK❄️ (@WokeIndigenous) May 2, 2023
Her case comes amid heightened attention and intense discussions in Native American circles about the complicated nature of Native identity and follows allegations that another well-known Bay…
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