Angelo Baca

Angelo Baca is a cultural activist, scholar, filmmaker and currently a doctoral student in anthropology at New York University. He is the cultural resources coordinator at Utah Diné Bikéyah, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense and protection of culturally significant ancestral lands. 

The National Parks Conservation Association recently designated him as one of “10 Under 40” dynamic cultural activists who make up the association’s Next Generation Advisory Council. He has published a widely read op-ed in the New York Times. Shash Jaa’: Bears Ears is Angelo Baca’s latest award-winning film about the five tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition that worked together to protect 1.9 million acres of Utah wilderness through a national monument designation. His work reflects a long-standing dedication to both Western and Indigenous knowledge. 

Baca is also the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Champion in Cross Country and on the outdoor track in the 3000 meters steeplechase and 5000 meters in 2002-03. He also is a seven-time NJCAA All American in Cross Country, Track and the Half Marathon. 

Currently, he is training for trail races and long distances runs across Indigenous landscapes in Navajo country.