Cultural Identity Theft

In cultural identity theft, a person, unauthorised, impersonates another individual or a representative of another group of people. This is an intentional attempt to mislead a third party, for instance, by utilising knowledge or a symbol identifying another group of people and with this action causes more than minor damage to the group of people whose knowledge or symbol is being exploited. An example of this is a travel industry representative posing as Sámi without any actual connection with the Sámi community or without the consent of the Sámi community. Shamanism as based on Sámi spiritual heritage or constructed on a heritage referencing Sámi culture, or performing as a shaman, without any actual connection with the Sámi community or without the consent of the Sámi community to utilise their cultural heritage is also considered cultural identity theft.