Teaching, Research, Mediation and Consulting

A link to the community’s website Inisha Nunka, and their ongoing go-fund me page to support their Community-based Eco-tourism project in Ecuador can be found here: 

Website: inishanunka.org

Instagram: @inishanunka

My research is looking at Critical Geographies in the Ecuadorian Amazon where she is a PhD Candidate at Queens University in the department of Geography and Planning. Working with Dr. Heather Castleden in the Health, Environment and Communities Lab. Martina is partnered with families of the Indigenous Shuar Community through community-based participatory research to decolonize knowledge production through the understanding of their territory Inisha Nunka “Grandmothers Mother Earth.” Her work is exploring the axis of activism in research by trying to utilize her work to preserve their traditional ecological knowledge and ancestral territory as well as contribute to their community development.

"Conflict is inevitable. It is how you manage conflict thats makes the difference"

• I have experience in International Research Projects, Publications, Program Design and Implementation 

• Educational, Workplace Training and Workshops on: 
• Conflict Resolution, Conflict Management, Mediation, Circles, & Peacebuilding

• Circle Processes and Design: Circles are an ancient practice based on the restoration of relationships and community

Peace by Piece 

I have experience in International Research Projects, Publications, Program Design and Implementation 

Educational, Workplace Training and Workshops on: 

Conflict Resolution, Conflict Management, Mediation, Circles, & Peacebuilding

Circle Processes and Design: Circles are an ancient practice based on the restoration of relationships and community

Conferences Presentations

·  Peer Reviewed: (Forthcoming) Contributing to the Pluriverse: Shuar Traditional Knowledge in the Trans Kutuku, March 24, 2023 

·  Peer Reviewed: Amazonia; Indigenous People; Traditional Knowledge; Decolonialization; Political Ecology; Territory; Pluriverse; Geographies of Peace, January 2023. 

Panel: Traditional Knowledge in and around (Our Grandmother’s Mother Earth) with the Shuar in the Ecuadorian Amazon

·  Peer Reviewed: Presenter and Panelist at the International Feminist Geographers Conference, June 17, 2022. Working paper on Decolonial Feminist Thought and Geographies of Peace: New ways of being through the eyes of the Indigenous Shuar in the Ecuadorian Amazon.  

Panel: Feminist Political Ecology 2: Nature-society encounters through neo liberal development, gendered knowledge geographies, and peacebuilding.

·  Official observer for the American Geographers Association at United Nations COP-26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

·  Attended with the Shuar Chiriap Family the Mega Evento Expo Conference Expominas: Oil and Power Energias Renovables Gas- Ambiente Expo-Conference November 24, 25, 26 in Quito, Ecuador.

·  Peer Reviewed: Presenter and Panelist at the Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting for the Indigenous Peoples Working Group on June 11, 2021. Presented a working paper on the possibilities for Collaborative Community-Based Research Online & Virtual Knowledge Production (Peer Reviewed). 

·  Peer Reviewed: Presenter at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting Panel on Covid-19, Digital Activism, and the Changing Dynamics of Social Movements on April 7, 2021. 

·  Peer Reviewed: Presenter and Panelist: Indigenous Research Collaboration Day: “Exploring Indigenous Research Ethics.” Community Based Participatory Research with the Shuar. No`vember 6, 2020 (Kingston, Ontario). 

·  Peer reviewed: Presenter and Panelist: Scholarship Beyond Boundaries Conference. International Dimensions of Engagement. How can we learn to Interact in ways that are more meaningful & significant? February 29, 2020 (Kingston, Ontario). 

·  Presenter and Panelist: Il Cumbre del Petroleo y Gas. Oportunidades y Desafios de la Nueva Revolucion Energetica. Canadian and International Perspectives on Social Conflict & Peacebuilding. November 14, 2019 (Bogota, Colombia) 

"When there is a relationship everything else is easier..."

Martina has been working to bridge understanding between Indigenous Knowledge and Western perspectives in the resource sector in Canada and Latin America for the last eight years. She has been privileged to work with Indigenous leaders from Canada, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil through her role as Head Bridge Builder with Global Indigenous Development Trust. 

She has facilitated and translated international intercultural exchanges between Indigenous leaders, students and with resource industry leaders through various different events and ceremonies over the years.

Martina produced REDx Talks Toronto Sustainable Futures: Co-Creating a Vision for Resource Development in 2018.

She is currently working with Bear Standing Tall and Associates as well as the Shuar Community of Inisha Nunka to help raise funding for their Ecotourism sites for reconciliation, healing and education in both Ecuador and Brazil. 

Conference and Workshop Organization 

2012 

Geopolitics of Peace and Conflict: Colombia, Sri-Lanka, and Ireland 

Co-Organizer & Translator . Trinity College Dublin and Latin American. Solidarity Center Dublin 

2017 

Workshop: Elder Sweatlodge & Meet and Greet  Co-Organizer 

Global Indigenous Development Trust 

2018 

REDx Talks Toronto Sustainable Futures: Co-creating a Vision for Resource Development in Canada  Co-Organizer and Production Manager 

Global Indigenous Development Trust and Redx Talks