Collective residencies / Feeling-thinking to weave global justice / Olot
ANDREA M. VÁSQUEZ FERNÁNDEZ
From Tuesday, 19 April 2022 to Friday, 29 April 2022
Bio
Andrea is a Quechua-descendent Peruvian PhD candidate in the University of British Columbia. Andrea holds a B.Sc. in Forestry Engineering and a diploma on Environmental Management, Quality, and Auditing both from Peru’s National Agrarian University of La Molina, and a M.Sc. in interdisciplinary studies from Canada’s University of British Columbia.
Andrea has been invited by community members to form an alliance with the Asheninka and Yine Peoples, two Pueblos Originarios in the Peruvian Amazon. She is a part of a pluri-cultural research team, which is also formed by María Shuñaqui and Miriam Perez (both Asheninka community members); Raúl Sebastián and Judith Canayo (both Yine community members).
Using Indigenous theories and methodologies in a power-shared research, the research team is committed to conduct collaboratively community-led projects to address their concerns and desired futures. Currently they are conducting a project called ‘RESPECT-AMAZONIA.’
For more information: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/campus-community/meet-our-students/vasquez-fernandez-andrea
Project
Ana Elia Ramón Hidalgo, Magdalena Ugarte, Sara Ortiz Escalante and I will gather during our stay at Faber to think collectively and discuss about the most relevant learnings accumulated throughout our personal, academic and professional trajectories, accounting for contextual differences, so as to highlight common and other relevant challenges under the umbrella of the Social Justice-oriented grassroots work. We will approach this dialogue in an intersectional, pluriparadigmatic and interdisciplinary way and we will transpose these reflections in an publication.
During our stay, we will also co-facilitate a series of local experiences to make visible current social justice barriers, as well as to further weave intercontinental solidarity.
I could summarize my stay at Faberllull as "healing". With my colleagues Magdalena (Chile), Ana Elia (Spain) and Sara (Spain) we engaged in a series of conscious and reflective discussions (the kind that touches the earth and lifts you up). Our day-to-day life was enlightened by the extraordinary staff of Hotel Riu Fluvià; the care of the Faber staff (Pepa and Gavina); the delicious delicacies offered by Hotel Riu Fluvià (those that fill the body and soul) and the wonderful Olot (a place full of energy, perfect to work and at the same time with a lot to offer).
On the other hand, in the workshops we offered at the University of Girona and in the community of Olot we explored with different participants from civil society the fabrics of global justice. We learned, unlearned, taught, debated, and conversed with students, educators, politicians, public workers, and local professionals about justice in the migration process, in urban planning, and its intersections with many other struggles. We also analyzed what could be those foundations that produce and reproduce injustices... We are left with more questions, but with the certainty that we need more spaces like Faberllull to feel, create, care and share collectively.
Thank you very much for the welcome!