Áile Aikio
Humanist of the day

Áile Aikio

Áile Aikio came down to the University of Helsinki where she gained her Master’s degree and returned to her home in Sápmi, Saamenmaa in Lapland. Her studies included ethnography, archaeology, folklore studies and anthropology. She spent several years in the service of the Siida Sámi museum until chance led her to work for the local station of the Finnish Broadcasting Service in Sápmi. Work as a Sámi-language journalist in the frenzied media world was quite a contrast to museum work, but an important lesson in the need to challenge oneself and one’s education. In museums, traces of the curator’s input are sporadically visible, but on television the presenter is seen and heard on a daily basis.

Áile Aikio

Áile Ingá Aikio
Born June 8,1979, Utsjoki

Master of Arts (ethnography), 2012, University of Helsinki

Amanuensis, 2005- (leave of absence autumn 2013-), Sámi museum Siida
Journalist, 2013–15, Yle Sápmi

Photo: A. Aikio
Written by Áile Aikio and Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta (ed.)
Translated by John Calton

I began studying at the University in 1998 with archaeology as my main subject. I studied archaeology for several years but switched to ethnology before graduating. I have studied folkloristics, anthropology and classical archaeology as subsidiary subjects.

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In the autumn of 2013 I came to the conclusion that I needed a break from the Sámi museum. I happened to having a chat outside a shop, and one thing led to another: I was offered a job working for the Sámi radio and TV channel of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Yle Sápmi. My work as a broadcaster meant a fresh start and a leap almost entirely out of my comfort zone. The move has proved to be one of the best decisions I ever made, although on occasion I do miss the museum world.

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Yle Ođđasat is a five-minute long Sámi-language news broadcast which is shot and produced in Inari, in the middle of the Finnish Sámi region. Each day about 100 000 people watch the service. The news deals with topics relating to the Sámi people, from a Sámi perspective. The broadcast uses…

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