Martha "Ikayuaq" Stackhouse

Martha Ikayuaq Stackhouse is an Iñupiaq elder and educator from Utqiaġvik, Alaska (formerly known as Barrow.) She was born to Anna and Wesley Aiken and grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle focused on the seasonal round of whaling. Martha began teaching in Barrow in the 1980s, and has worked as a classroom teacher and Inupiaq language expert for the North Slope Borough School District, and most recently as coordinator of Ilisagvik College's Teachers for the Arctic Program. Having lived in Utqiaġvik her entire life, Martha has observed environmental changes over time and how these have effected the community and people's subsistence lifestyles. Martha has always been generous in sharing her traditional knowledge of her Iñupiaq culture and language and her enviromental observations.