Rae Gould serves as Executive Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. As a member of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band of Massachusetts, she has lifelong connections to the tribes and peoples of southern New England. Her research, publications and teaching include: contemporary Native American culture, with a focus on the Northeast; the history and impact of federal laws (NAGPRA, Section 106 and federal acknowledgement); the history, methods and theories of archaeological practice in the U.S.; and place-based and critical heritage studies through the examination of Indigenous homelands as cultural landscapes.

Dr. Gould’s BA from Connecticut College was in Art and Architectural History and Anthropology; she earned her MA and PhD in Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, focusing her research on her tribe’s reservation (the Hassanamisco Reservation) in Grafton, Massachusetts (on the National Register of Historic Places since 2011). 

RESEARCH and PRACTICE AREAS

Archaeological practice and theory / Indigenous Archaeology / NAGPRA / Cultural landscapes / Cultural Heritage and Resources / Historic Preservation / Museum Collections Stewardship

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)

Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA)