Lisa Ausic
Ph.D. Researcher & Lecturer
Welcome!
Come along with me as I explore human-vegetal relations, multispecies intimacies and ways of knowing, being and becoming in (and with) more-than-human worlds.
This is a space where I think and engage with these worlds anthropologically, develop new ideas, share projects, wonderings and hands-on experiences.
Research Interests
In times of climate crisis and ecological breakdown it becomes clearer than ever that we cannot ignore the interspecies interdependencies that sustain our co-existence and fruition on this planet. Trained in both Social and Cultural Anthropology and Latin American Studies, my work zooms in onto the myriad ways in which human and more-than-human actors make up their daily lives in a network of relations.
In particular, I am interested in how power relations, (post-)colonial trajectories and extractive encounters shape human/more-than-human relations, the ontological frictions that such encounters can reveal and the pluriversal politics that this might enable.
Accordingly, my work is located at the intersections of Environmental Anthropology, posthumanist political ecology, political ontology and decolonial critique. In addition, I maintain a strong interest in gender studies, feminist political ecology as well as in the spiritualization of ecology and “Green Religions” in the European context.
Photography by Alexander Muñoz
About me
I am a trained anthropologist, Ph.D. researcher and lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Amsterdam University College.
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Before beginning my Ph.D. trajectory in 2020, I studied Social and Cultural Anthropology and Latin American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (2013-2017). In 2017, life drew me to the Netherlands and by 2018, I graduated from VU Amsterdam's Master Program in Social and Cultural Anthropology with the distinction cum laude. My Master thesis was nominated for the Van der Zouwen Thesis Award and the C. J. Baak Thesis Price.
Since then, I have been invited to work for VU’s interdisciplinary Migration & Diversity Research Centre (2018-2019) and have been grateful to be able to follow my passion for teaching at various universities in the Netherlands.
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In 2022, my PhD research project was awarded with a scholarship grant from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and since 2024 I am Book Reviews Editorial Assistant at American Ethnologist.
About this page
I'd like to imagine this space as an intellectual garden or plant that I and its visitors can regularly tend to. While this plant is still juvenile, I hope to nurture and grow it over time and allow it to develop new shoots wherever life nudges them to sprout.
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Although this plant's roots are anchored in the fertile soils of posthumanist thinking, decolonial critique and the field of political ontology, this page will not be purely academic. Besides information on my research projects, publications, teaching and blog you will soon also gain insight into my non-academic projects. Through reflexive written posts and photo essays, I will share my experiences with herbal soap making and herbal medicine.
Last but not least, I wish to make this a space that ignites and nourishes inspiration to think and live differently in more-than-human worlds. On my pinboard & twitter I share news articles, press releases, social media posts and art projects that provoke imagination and critical thinking.
So be invited to come along and let's do some intellectual photosynthesis together!
