Collective residencies / Feeling-thinking to weave global justice / Olot
MAGDALENA UGARTE
From Tuesday, 19 April 2022 to Friday, 29 April 2022
Bio
Magdalena Ugarte is an Assistant Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University, where she teaches courses in social and community planning, planning theory, and public policy. She holds a MA in Political Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a PhD in Planning from the University of British Columbia, Canada. In addition to her academic experience, Magdalena has worked in government settings in Chile and Canada. Her scholarship examines the role of planning, policy, and law in the dispossession of certain communities, especially Indigenous peoples and immigrants. She also explores possibilities for intercultural collaboration and solidarity work in contexts where structural power imbalances – such as settler colonial dispossession and forced migration – are at play. Magdalena’s current work with Mapuche partners in Chile engages with questions of Indigenous planning and Indigenous law.
Project
During my stay at Faber, I will collaborate with my colleagues Ana Elia Ramón Hidalgo, Andrea Vásquez Fernández and Sara Ortiz Escalante in order to explore and visibilize the potential of social justice-oriented grassroots work in different contexts. Building on the community and scholarly work each one of us has done around Indigenous and land rights, migrant justice, and intersectional feminist urbanism in Catalonia and Abya Yala, we will engage in reflection, knowledge exchange, and community conversation through the collective creation of a written piece and three interactive activities with Olot residents. In doing so, we hope to foster a space where intercontinental solidarity for social justice can keep growing.
Heartfelt thanks to Pepa, Gavina, and the whole team at FaberLlull for creating such a rich space for collective reflection. The breathtaking landscape, the quiet space to work individually and collectively, the kindness of the Riu Fluvia staff, and the possibility to connect with local organizations and Olot residents allowed our collective stay to be an opportunity for critical thinking-feeling and intellectual growth. The discussions we had as a team and the exchanges we had with other residents and with the community are already informing my work.