bio
Angelo Baca is from the Navajo and Hopi Nations, which are Tribal Nations located within their aboriginal territory in the Southwest region of the United States. He is the Cultural Resources Coordinator for Utah Diné Bikéyah, a non-profit with an all-Indigenous board and a mission to engage local Native community members to protect their traditional cultures and ancestral lands.
As a filmmaker and Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology at New York University, Angelo has research interests in Indigenous international repatriation, Indigenous food sovereignty, and sacred lands protection. He promotes a local participatory research methodology, empowering traditional knowledge keepers. He has taught a variety of Native American and Indigenous course topics from college to Ivy League university settings, including Native American literature and media courses at Brown University. As a documentary filmmaker, Angelo has developed digital storytelling projects in close collaboration with Indigenous communities. He is a graduate of the Native Voices Program at the University of Washington and has created numerous documentaries and collaborative works around such subjects as Indigenous food sovereignty, Native youth development, and Indigenous international repatriation.
Angelo directed and produced the award-winning documentary Shash Jaa': Bears Ears, which sheds light on the cultural significance of Bears Ears for the people who have used this land for generations and who continue to do so today. He is the co-president of the Native American and Indigenous Students Group at NYU, assisting in facilitating an Indigenous Studies Program minor at the institution. Baca is also on the selection committee for the Chief Diversity Officer at NYU.
He delivered a statement about the significance of Bears Ears National Monument to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 17th Session in 2018.