Hello, my name is Emily Creek.

I am cultural anthropologist turned oral historian from the United States. I am living in Alaska—though I got my start in the Midwest, training in anthropology and dance in Chicago with a little stop in the Rocky Mountains, several years in the Hawaiian Islands on my way to the north Pacific.

My anthropological research focused on the global dance network and its localization in various settings. I am most interested in (geographically) periphery places, with my Master’s degree research taking place in Reykjavík Iceland. I love studying island communities, big or small and collaboration with those voices. Particularly, I am fascinated by the concept of remoteness and what that does or does not mean anymore in this globalized world.

In July 2019, I found myself on another volcanic island, working at Kalaupapa National Historical Park assisting in oral history program. My time on that special peninsula greatly influenced what I hope to do with my life: primarily I want to hold and tell the stories of places + the people that make those places home.

From there I spent exactly (to the day) two wonderful years in Hāna town on Maui and work as Park Ranger at Haleakalā National Park- Kīpahulu District. I remain passionate about this amazing area of Maui, learning from my ʻohana of coworkers, and sharing the moʻolelo, plants, sea birds and monk seals, and the archeology of the area with the thousands of folks who come often to chase waterfalls without much understanding of where they find themselves.

A culmination of a lot of time spent wondering if I was good enough, I am now serving as Cultural Anthropologist and Subsistence Coordinator for the Western Arctic National Parklands office in Kotzebue Alaska. This is the office that serves Cape Krusenstern National National Monument, Noatak Nation Preserve, and Kobuk Valley National Park.

This interweb space holds graduate school work—including my thesis—interviews with artists; dances in places that mean a great deal to me; and most close to me at the moment, oral histories documenting people’s experience of the pandemic and this tough season of humanity. It has been an honor to listen to my friends and their experiences.

I also share my work as it occasionally finds itself featured on other websites/newsletters—always an honor as well.

I thank you for taking the time to spend some of your day with me on this website, and I encourage you to listen, watch, read, and comment —the world is vast, and I hope to showcase just a tiny portion of it. I am no expert in anything but my own experience, as you are an expert of yours. But I am a firm believer that stories can change the world. Maybe. At least we can try.

-Em