Indian identity, to borrow from Berkhofer, is a counterfeit construction embellished by citizens who reside outside the Native landscape. Indian attempts to define their own authenticity are dismissed by scientists as irrelevant and by jurists as insignificant. For most lay publics, therefore, their exposure to Indian identity takes the form of what Baudrilliard called a simulacrum: a perversion of reality honed by social discourse and symbolism.

via Musings on Native Science