Hi everyone. My name is Freia Titland and I'm a PhD Candidate in Religion and Philosophy with a special focus in Women's Spirituality. And I'm very close to completing my doctoral research, but I could really use your help.

I'm exploring how ritual performance can act as a means of spiritual and cultural recovery for Sámi-descended women in North America. The Sámi are an Indigenous group of people whose traditional homelands stretch across northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. There are somewhere between 30,000-60,000 descendants living in North America.

This is a pretty significant number and yet there is currently no large scale existing research that explores how these people experience their spirituality or cultural heritage. I'm trying to change that. I'm starting small by working with a small group of Sámi-descended women, but I hope to expand this research to include everyone later on.

Because this kind of study doesn't exist neither do the grants, resources, or outside funding to support it. And, given the cuts to federal funding, competition for funds that I may qualify for is fierce. But this research is important for many reasons.

When people reconnect with who they are - their heritage, language, culture, and family stories - they heal. They experience feelings of wholeness, of empowerment, and they find a sense of community with like-minded people. This makes for happier and healthier community members. On a more global and academic level, this research contributes to our understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems, what it looks like to recover Indigenous practices, cultures, and spiritualities, ritual studies, and explores how women experience and express their spirituality. And it does so through a previously unexplored line of inquiry.

So, what do I need to get this done? I'm gathering 6 women - including myself - from across North America to meet in upstate New York to conduct in-person research and perform that research together. I'm asking for $10,000 to cover the cost of airfare, travel expenses like gas, tolls, trains tickets, etc., a car rental, housing, and food.

Every little bit helps and no donation is too small. Thank you for taking the time to watch and read and to consider donating to this project. It means so much to me and to all involved.

Freia

A brief creative exploration around the topic: