This podcast episode is groundbreaking for the EXALT Podcast. It is our first episode with two guests, but also our first multi-lingual podcast – whether you are listening to the English version, the Spanish version, or the original – we hope that you enjoy! Esta es la versión en español, sin traducción al inglés.
We talked today with Katy Machoa and Paola Minoia. Katy is a Clinical Psychologist from the Kichwa Community of Shamato, part of the Amazonian Kichwa nationality. Paola is a Senior university lecturer in development studies in the Faculty of Social Science, and an adjunct professor in development geography at the Faculty of Sciences, both at the University of Helsinki. We talked to these guests together because they are co-collaborators on an Academy of Finland funded project based in Ecuador on called Goal 4+: Including Eco-cultural Pluralism in Quality Education in Ecuadorian Amazonia. “This project expands on Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to ensure quality education for all through an attempt to promote recognition of eco-cultural pluralism and inclusion of indigenous pedagogies and knowledges as part of quality education in Ecuadorian Amazonia.” If you are interested in learning more about this interesting and important project please visit their project website and blog https://blogs.helsinki.fi/ecocultures-ecuador/.
In this conversation we talked about Katy’s lived experiences in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Through this conversation we talk about indigenous communities, the trajectory of “development” in this region, the types of extraction which are happening in these lands, and the role of epistemological plurality in creating space for indigenous knowledge.
The resources which Katy highlighted in the episode:
https://conaie.org/
https://confeniae.net/