Rachel Dolezal and the issue of self identity

Dolezel, an adjunct professor of Africana at Eastern Washington University, is creating a stir due to revelations by her parents that she is white, when for years she has claimed to be black.  She has also stepped down as president of the local NAACP chapter.
http://chronicle.com/article/Rachel-Dolezal-Case-Leaves-a/230947/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

She apparently didn't attract much attention until she was asked to be the keynote speaker at the African Studies graduation event.  Then the teacher of such courses as "The Black Woman's Struggle" came under scrutiny.  Facts emerged: she had once pursued a reverse discrimination case against her alma mater, historically black Howard University, for example.

The report that she claims to have been born in a teepee brought to mind another such case, that of Ward Churchill.  A professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Churchill caused a furor after Nine-Eleven with an essay that suggested the victims of the World Trade Center attack had gotten what they deserved.  Quoting Malcolm X, Churchill contended that the chickens had come home to roost.

Churchill was then investigated by faculty colleagues at his university and his scholarship was found to be faulty.  There followed his firing and lengthy litigation.  During all this furor, it came out that his claim of Native America roots apparently was a fabrication.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Churchill

Another case also comes to mind, that of the history professor who falsely claimed a Vietnam War combat record.  Dr. Joseph Ellis got himself a ear's suspension from Mt. Holyoke for falsely claiming to his students that he had served in Vietnam when he actually had gotten himself a deferment for grad school and then to teach history at West Point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ellis

These three cases appear to be part of an interesting phenomenon.  To me it suggests an exaggerated manifestation of a desire all of us have, who are not rich and famous in our own right.  How many of us have wanted to be a rock star or a best-selling novelist or a Hollywood celebrity.  We pay significant portions of our pay to watch millionaire athletes compete.  We rush to see celebrities and get their autographs or to take a selfie with one of them.

It's not hard to imagine a teacher of history who yearns to impress his students by pretending to have been a part of history.

A bit more intriguing is the scholar of black or Indian history who passionately wants to be identified more intimately with her/his subject matter... who wants not only to teach of their suffering but to be identified with it.

I once had a photographer's mate reporting to me, when I was a public information officer in the Coast Guard, who claimed to have had to turn down an offer from Life Magazine because he has just reenlisted the day before.  This was only one of the whoppers he regularly told me.  I cam to suspect that he might really believe at least some of them.

Professor Dolezel, in my opinion, is one of those folks who carry their desire to be someone else to a delusional extreme.  She joins the lists of famous and infamous impostors,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impostors
some of whom have had movies made about them:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053879/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/

However, I don't think Professor Dolezel is destined to be portrayed on the silver screen.