Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert is Professor of History and Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, and an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe from the village of Upper Munqapi. His research and teaching center Native American history and the American West, with a particular focus on American Indian education, the Indian boarding school experience, and Indigenous sport histories.
Gilbert is the author of two monographs: Education beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902–1929 (University of Nebraska Press, 2010), a study of Hopi students’ experiences at an off-reservation boarding school that foregrounds Native agency and lived experience; and Hopi Runners: Crossing the Terrain between Indian and American (University Press of Kansas, 2018), which examines Hopi marathon running in the early twentieth century and the ways Hopi athletes navigated community ties, schooling, and U.S. nationalism. His scholarship on Hopi running has been recognized widely, including induction into the Native American Indigenous Athletic Hall of Fame (2024), and has been featured in film and media.
In addition to his writing, Gilbert produced the documentary Beyond the Mesas, which explores Hopi experiences at off-reservation boarding schools such as Sherman Institute, Stewart Indian School, and the Phoenix Indian School. His current book project, Modern Encounters of the Hopi Past, traces how Hopi people moved within and beyond their homelands—through military service, film, music, and higher education—bringing Hopi voices to the center of a tribal-specific history of mobility, encounter, and belonging.
He also contributes to public scholarship and cultural work through service roles, including advising the Heard Museum exhibition “Resilience: Stories of the American Indian Boarding School Experience,” and participating in editorial and community boards supporting Indigenous education, publishing, and museum and media initiatives.
Contact:
520-626-9772
Select Works:
Education Beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929. University of Nebraska Press, 2010.
Hopi Runners: Crossing the Terrain Between Indian and American. University Press of Kansas, 2018.