Mantė Makauskaitė

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Vilnius University, Lithuania)
• Exchange: contemporary international conflicts; Refugee and Migration Studies (Marmara University, Turkey)
• Master’s degree in African Studies (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Motivation

The desire to know and understand the world, to understand how it works, why it changes, to discover where my country and I stand in it, how different cultures and ideas interact and how this interaction affects the world order, led me from political science in Vilnius to African studies in Copenhagen.

As I wandered around the world, both physically and scientifically, I kept rediscovering Lithuania, becoming more and more aware of how much of it was in me, and the desire to return sooner or later seemed natural. I am not one of those who believe that foreign Lithuanians should “save Lithuania”, but I do believe that leaving Lithuania is enriching, it allows you to look at your country from the perspective of a more critical eye and to assess both its strengths and weaknesses more adequately. I believe that a healthy and dynamic society requires a change of ideas, which is enlivened by foreign experiences.

I came back to Lithuania as a person who is at home in the world – in Istanbul, Las Vegas, Nairobi, Copenhagen,… – a person who feels good, but who loves Lithuania and wants to build it. And while I am very impressed by the freedom of thought in the academic world, where I have considered staying, I also believe in the individual’s commitment to society. Create Lithuania was a great opportunity to start fulfilling that commitment with a great team of like–minded people.