Angelo Baca, PhD, is a scholar, cultural activist, and filmmaker currently teaching as an Assistant Professor of History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences at the Rhode Island School of Design. He centers his research in Indigenous international repatriation, Indigenous food sovereignty, and sacred lands protection. Through his films and activism, Baca focuses on the protection of Indigenous communities by empowering local and traditional knowledge keepers in the stewardship of their own cultural practices and landscapes. Baca is the cultural resources coordinator at Utah Diné Bikéyah, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense and protection of culturally significant ancestral lands and a board member of Durango-based Conservation Lands Foundation.
Baca’s award-winning film, Shash Jaa’: Bears Ears is currently featured in the Center of Southwest Studies’ exhibition, Given Time: Sensory Aesthetics of Reclamation, on view through April 24, 2025.