Williamson, aKalaaleq, was born in Greenland, and received her primary education there. She graduated from high school in Denmark and received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education[4] from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada in 1987. Her Ph.D., from the Department ofAnthropology,University of Aberdeen in Scotland, focussed on gender relations in post-colonial Greenland Inuit communities.[6][7] She also completed her Greenland Teacher Training at the College ofNuuk, Greenland.[8]
"The Arctic is really the canary in the coal mine in terms ofclimate change." (K. J. Williamson, 2003)[9]
Williamson's research includesInuitchildbearing andgender roles inpost-colonial Greenland.[10] She taught for 16 years in the Indian and Northern Education program at the University of Saskatchewan before moving to the AINA on 15 September 2000.[7] She is also a Senior Researcher with theInuit Tapiriit Kanatami.[11]
Because of her role with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and theArctic Human Health Initiative,[12] Williamson became the Activity Leader for theIPY 2007–2008 project "Arctic Resiliency and Diversity: Community Response to Change" in collaboration with theInuit Circumpolar Conference.[13] She is a notable presenter onmasking and promotes it for Inuit understanding ofgender equality in relationship toancestors, animals, and the environment. In addition, Williamson has been an editor for theGabriel Dumont Institute'sJournal of Indigenous Studies.[1]
Williamson has served on the Advisory Committee for the Minister of Natural Resources, the Canadian Council on Learning, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Canadian Advisory Council, and the Canadian National Steering Committee for International Polar Year (IPY).[14][8] She was also appointed to the Greenland Commission for Reconciliation in 2017.[15]
Williamson married Robert Gordon Williamson (1931–2012,Oxley, Wolverhampton,Staffordshire, England), an anthropologist, andProfessor Emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan.[16] They have two children.[7] She lives near Saskatoon and serves as assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations as the University of Saskatchewan.[5] Williamson is the first Inuk to be tenured at a Canadian University.[15]
1987, "Consequence of Schooling: Cultural Discontinuity amongst the Inuit".Canadian Journal of Native Education. 14 (2), 60–69. OCLC 93453172
2000, "Celestial and Social Families of the Inuit."Expressions in Canadian Native Studies. Edited by Ron F. Laliberte, Priscilla Settee, James B. Waldram, Rob Innes, Brenda Macdougall, Lesley McBain, F. Laurie Barron. Aboriginal Program, Extension Division, University of Saskatchewan Extension Press, Saskatoon, Canada.
1995, "Canadian Inuit Teacher Training and Inuit Identity". InIlinniarfissuaq Ukiuni 150-ini. Edited by Daniel Thorleifsen. Atuakkiorfik. Nuuk, Greenland.[17]
2004, "Gender Issues". InArctic Human Development Report. Edited by Oran R. Young and Níels Einarsson. Oddi Printing Co. Reykjavik. Iceland.[18]
2010, "Inuit Ways of Knowing: Cosmocentrism and the Role of Teasing in Child Development". InEthological Case Study: Social conflict and the acquisition and expression of conditioned defeat. Cambridge University Press. Co-authored with Laurence J. Kirmayer.[19]
2011, "Inherit my Heaven: Kalaallit Gender Relations". Inussuk, Nuuk.
^Einarsson, Niels; Nymand Larsen, Joan; Nilsson, Annika; Young, Oran R. (2004).Arctic Human Development Report. Stefansson Arctic Institute, under the auspices of the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council 2002-2004.ISBN978-9979-834-45-8.
