When Pretendian investigations go wrong

By B.A. Parker,

Jess Kung, Robert Jago, Angel Ellis, Jesse Brown, Caleb Thompson, Karyn Pubgliese, Courtney Stein

Published November 20, 2024 at 9:43 AM EST

This week we're bringing you an episode from a podcast called Pretendians, co-hosted by Robert Jago and Angel Ellis. Their series exposes wild stories about the fraudsters who pretend to be Indigenous. But sometimes investigating and casting doubt on people's indigeneity can cause more harm than good.

Robert talks to Jacqueline Keeler, the person behind the "Alleged Pretendians List". Then, he talks to Kiros Auld, whose name appeared on that controversial list. The problem? Kiros is legitimately Native.

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B.A. Parker

Jess Kung

Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.

Robert Jago

Angel Ellis

Jesse Brown

Caleb Thompson

Karyn Pubgliese

Courtney Stein

Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.