Belen Norona

María Belén Noroña

I am a political ecologist working at the intersection of grassroots grounded research, environmental engineering, territorial feminisms, and decolonization. I apply my work to Indigenous territorial governance, oil and gas extraction, the spatial aspects of race and gender inequality, non-representational cartography, and networked space and place. I have a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and a trajectory mixing activism, interdisciplinary research, place-based solutions, and education with communities in the Andes of Latin America.

I am currently collaborating with rural and Indigenous communities experiencing the effects of hydrocarbon extraction in the Amazon of Ecuador. These collaborations center Indigenous needs and worldviews in shaping research agendas and co-producing solutions to environmental degradation and alternatives to extractive modes of production.
Another important aspect of my research is the intersection of environmental injustice and how social difference is spatialized in human bodies and territories, including more than human natures. My research departs from grassroots struggles for liberation, highlighting subjectivities and identity formation processes, including those of researchers partnering with communities.

In my teaching, I use decolonial and feminist methods and a curriculum inclusive of marginalized voices. Students interested in working with me should be able to make their research meaningfully relevant to social needs and justice processes.