The Baltic Assembly Prize in Science went to Professor of Political Theory Eva Piirimäe

The Baltic Assembly awarded its Prize in Science to Professor in Political Theory Eva Piirimäe for her monograph “Herder and Enlightenment Politics”.

The central figure of the monograph by Eva Piirimäe, Professor of Political Theory at The Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, is Johann Gottfried Herder who founded the modern disciplines of philosophical anthropology and cultural history, including research into popular culture. He is also remembered as a fierce critic of colonialism and imperialism. “Herder and Enlightenment Politics” provides a radically new interpretation of Herder’s political thought, situating his ideas in Enlightenment debates on modern patriotism, commerce and peace. Herder probed the foundations of modern liberty, community and peace, developing a distinctive understanding of human self-determination, natural sociability and modern patriotism as well as advocating a vision of Europe as a commercially and culturally interconnected community of peoples.

Piirimäe received her PhD from University of Cambridge in 2006. She has been a visiting scholar and associate professor at Harvard and Yale Universities. Piirimäe’s monograph “Herder and Enlightenment Politics” (Cambridge University Press, 2023) has received several international awards, most importantly the István Hont Book Prize.

The Baltic Assembly Prize in the Arts went to the Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš for the Latvian Radio Choir concert programme “The Dream Stream”. The Prize in Literature was awarded to the Lithuanian poet, essayist, critic, and translator Tomas Andrius Venclova for his latest collection of poetry “Už Onos ir Bernardinų”.

The Baltic Assembly Prize consists of a monetary prize, a certificate, and a statuette, which are presented every year at the Baltic Assembly session. This year, the Prize Awarding Ceremony will take place during the 44th Session of the Baltic Assembly on 13 November in Riga. The Jury was made up of artists and experts from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: Svetlana Grigorjeva, Tüüne-Kristin Vaikla, Kadri Simm, Donata Mitaitė, Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė, Valdemaras Razumas, Ieva Kolmane, Dace Bluķe, Maija Kūle.

The Baltic Assembly has been awarding the Prizes in literature, the arts, and science since 1994. The aim of the prizes is to promote the development of these fields in the Baltic States.

Previously, the same award has also been received by scholars from the Skytte Institute. In 2011 by Andres Kasekamp for his overview work “A History of the Baltic States”, and in 2015 by Eva-Clarita Pettai, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Tartu, and Vello Pettai, Professor of Comparative Politics, for their joint monograph “Transitional and Retrospective Justice in the Baltic States.”

This press realease was first published by Riigikogu Press Service on October 3. More info from Maris Meiessaar [email protected].