Aka Simonsen

Some of my ancestors were explorers themselves or traveling with Arctic Explorers. My grandfather was a kayaker, and my father was traveling with his boat every possible opportunity. I grew up with oral stories from elders and stories of exploration; furthermore, I have read exploration books since my early teenage years, especially books by Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen. All of it combined attracted me to take tourism education and to become an archaeologist.

I wanted to explore the remote places in the Arctic. As an Inuk woman with 4 children, possibilities were limited, I did my education and worked hard to show I can do the same as western men can even to push boundaries and improve exploration and science by reintroducing the traditional knowledge to the fields of exploration and science. The impact is to add a new dimension to science with traditional knowledge, incorporate traditional knowledge into contemporary expeditions, and enrich science with traditional knowledge and oral stories. My hope is to get traditional knowledge holders to be acknowledged worldwide, not only Inuit but other Indigenous knowledge holders too. 

Arctic Archaeology as a discipline has been dominated by outside scholars. Nowadays, having more educated Inuit and/or archaeologists living in the Arctic improves the accuracy of the field, especially when you have archaeologists that can ask locals about the history in the area. To connect the oral stories and combine traditional knowledge and science makes the archaeological analysis more accurate. 

My hope is to push the boundaries of exploration and make traveling easier for Indigenous peoples, especially women. Furthermore, I hope to remove the boundaries between science and traditional knowledge. The purpose of my work is to help the next generation become educated and learn to travel in the Arctic in a traditional way, with traditional and sustainably sourced materials and methods.