Paulette F. C. Steeves | |
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| Born | Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada |
| Education | University of Arkansas, Binghamton University |
| Occupations | Academic, Author |
| Employer | Algoma University |
| Awards | Canada Research Chair (Tier II, 2019–2029), Algoma University Distinguished Faculty Award (2024), Algoma University Research Excellence Award (2023), American Library Association Choice Outstanding Academic Title (2022) |
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Paulette F. C. Steeves is a Cree-Métis anthropologist, archaeologist, and the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History: Healing and Reconciliation at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Steeves is Cree-Métis and was born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She spent her formative years in Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. Steeves holds a BA in Anthropology (Honors Cum Laude) from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where her undergraduate research involved mitochondrial DNA studies supporting the Quapaw Tribe. She earned an MA and PhD in Anthropology from Binghamton University (State University of New York at Binghamton). Her master's thesis was titled "Archaeology, CRM, Academia, and Ethics, and, Akimel O'odham, Type 2 Diabetes: Links to Traditional Food Loss," and her 2015 dissertation, "Decolonising Indigenous Histories: Pleistocene Archeology Sites of the Western Hemisphere," was the first thesis in Anthropology within the United States to employ Indigenous methods and theory.
In 2008, she was awarded the Clifford D. Clark Fellowship for graduate studies. During her graduate studies, Steeves taught at Fort Peck Community College and Selkirk College. After completing her PhD, she served as the interim director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Native American Studies Program (2015-2017) and as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Mount Allison University (2017-2018).
In 2019, Steeves was appointed as a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation (renewed and expanded to Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History: Healing and Reconciliation for 2024–2029) and joined the faculty of Algoma University as a professor in the Department of Geography, Geology, and Land Stewardship (later also serving as Department Chair).
She is a member of the Editorial Board for American Antiquity (2021–2026) and serves on the advisory committee for the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology.
Steeves' research focuses on decolonizing historical narratives and reclaiming deep Indigenous histories of the Western Hemisphere. Her work centers on Pleistocene-age archaeological sites, arguing that evidence supports an Indigenous presence in the Americas prior to and far exceeding the conventional timeline of approximately 13,000 years ago. She has compiled an extensive database of hundreds of pre-11,200-year-old archaeological sites to support this reclamation.
Her research extends to several related areas of community-engaged scholarship:
Steeves' first book, The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (University of Nebraska Press, 2021), was awarded the American Library Association's Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2022. Her work has been featured in documentaries, including "Walking with the Ancients" on CBC's The Nature of Things.
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