Anne Sauka: Saltups Fellowship Report

AABS is pleased to recognize Anne Sauka for her completion of the 2023–2024 Mudīte I. Zīlīte Saltups Fellowship, a short-term study or research grant for up to eight weeks of study in the United States with a maximum stipend of $10,000.

The Impact of an Award: Report from Anne Sauka

After the completion of his fellowship, Anne Sauka submitted a reflection to AABS.

We thank her for her permission to publish her thoughts, which have been lightly edited.

The Saltups Fellowship granted me the opportunity to visit the United States from March 1 – April 30, 2024, in the capacity of visiting scholar at Syracuse University, where I conducted research on the article “Agency of More-than-human Naturecultures in Latvian Traditional Knowledges,” which explores human relations with the more-than-human (bears, wolves, and other animals) in Latvian Dainas, and considers the philosophical implications of these relationships in the context of environmental ethicalities for the future. Moreover, the fellowship allowed me the time and resources needed to continue working on the manuscript of my monograph in progress, which explores situated knowledges and lived experience of the genealogies we live by in context with Baltic mythologies and their role in present lifeworlds.

In addition to the advancement of my research projects, the fellowship also allowed collaboration and networking opportunities. I was invited to the United States by Dr. Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson (Associate Professor of Philosophy), to participate in the working group “PCT17: Genealogy in the Humanities” – a collaboration between researchers at Syracuse University and Cornell University. I also took part and presented the abovementioned article manuscript at the Fifth Critical Genealogies Workshop (April 26 – 27), hosted by Syracuse University, where I met scholars from the field of critical genealogy and took part in fruitful discussions pertaining to the methodological aspects of my research.

At the time of my visit, Dr. Erlenbusch-Anderson, in collaboration with Mariaelena Huambachano, assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous studies and environmental justice, hosted a residency of Dr. Krushil Watene, a Māori scholar and moral and political philosopher from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her workshop, lecture, and panel discussions on mobilizing indigenous philosophy for the facilitation of sustainability and intergenerational justice, fell in line with my interest in situated knowledges and their application in environmental contexts. Attendance of these events, thus, was an integral part of my research process at Syracuse University and allowed me to establish academic contacts in the fields of indigenous studies, political philosophy, and environmental humanities.

During my visit to the United States, I also traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Here, I followed up on my previously established collaborations with Dr. Cathryn Bennett, whose research focuses on racial justice in higher education as well as questions of teaching and learning environmental awareness in posthuman contexts. In addition to planning a collaborative research article on environmental ethics in the context of education, I also held a lecture and workshop on embodied critical thinking practices, for the PhD students of higher education as part of Dr. Bennett’s self-designed course “Critical Theory” that provides students with foundations in philosophies and theories of critique ranging from critical race, feminisms, and Indigenous knowledges.

In conclusion, I want to express my gratitude for this opportunity to visit the United States for both maintaining and continuing existing academic collaborations, as well as establishing new contacts in the US and beyond. The grant has provided me with the time and space needed for planning my intended research contributions and opened up many new paths to take in my future endeavors.

– Anne Sauka, 2024

Anne Sauka