Dr. Nate Acebo MA, PhD, RPADr. Nate Acebo is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Social and Critical Inquiry (SCI) - Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) at the University of Connecticut. He is a non-Indigenous archaeologist who practices community-based participatory research (CBPR) with Tribal Nations. His work looks at archaeological sites, archives, and oral histories to understand how Indigenous communities have sustained their governance and culture, both before and after colonization. He partners directly with Tribal Nations and Indigenous descendant communities across North America and Oceania, with a focus on California and Hawaiʻi.
Dr. Acebo combines fieldwork, museum research, material science methods, and digital humanities tools, all grounded in Indigenous studies. Since 2025, he has served as NAGPRA Consultant to the UConn Provost's Office, helping develop the University's repatriation policy and working with Tribal partners to return ancestors and cultural items. His book, Their Arrow Place: Material Potential and the Politics of Indigenous Autonomy, is under contract with the University of Arizona Press. Dr. Acebo also builds education programs that connect academic training with Indigenous knowledge systems. One example is the Táatamay Indigenous Archaeology Field School (TFS), taught in partnership with the Pechanga Cultural Resources Department. TFS gives students hands-on experience in community-based archaeological practice, creating career pathways for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in anthropology and heritage stewardship. His research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the First Nations Development Institute, among other funders. |
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