Documentary Screening 'We Walk the Earth' and Panel Discussion on 'Indigenous Land Struggles and their Search for Wellbeing'

Join us on November 23, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. ET for the film premiere of We Walk the Earth, a documentary featuring Indigenous Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka and Bröran voices. The screening will be followed at 7:00 p.m. by a panel discussion on the struggles and objectives to secure land rights and autonomous governance structures that Indigenous peoples in Costa Rica share with others.

This free event is open to the public, and we invite you to share this invitation with anyone who may be interested.

About the Documentary
We Walk the Earth speaks of Indigenous persistence in their homelands after more than 500 years of colonialism. It recounts struggles in Costa Rica for Indigenous rights to land, to self-governance and autonomy. Through the words of Bribri, Cabécar, Brunka and Bröran men and women, stories emerge of the pains suffered in the struggle to rightfully recover Indigenous Territories. The restoration of life and wellbeing through Indigenous Peoples’ stewardship of their land offers alternative ways to understand our relationship with the Earth.

Event Details
Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2022 | 6:00 p.m. ET
Format: 2-part virtual event: Zoom RSVP
Part 1: Documentary Screening We Walk the Earth| 6:00 p.m.
Directed by Felipe Montoya, Academic Lead: Gilbert Gonzalez Maroto

Part 2: Panel Discussion: Indigenous Land Struggles and their Search for Wellbeing | 7:00 p.m.

Panelists:

	Gilbert González Maroto, Executive Director, Centre for Indigenous Development (CEDIN) An Indigenous Brunca elder, Gilbert González is the Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Development (CEDIN, Spanish acronym) in Costa Rica. Gilbert is an active participant of various Indigenous organizations of national, regional and local scope. He is a collaborator of the Costa Rican Indigenous Movement in its struggles for human, environmental, social, political, organizational and legal rights. Gilbert contributes to informative content on Indigenous issues, for dissemination in the media and social networks as well as provides support to Indigenous organizations in the design of culturally appropriate development projects
	José Miguel Gonzalez Pérez, Ph.D. (Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University) Miguel González Pérez is an assistant professor in the International Development Studies program at York. In recent years he has taught both in the undergraduate and graduate programs in International Development at York. His current research relates to two broad themes and projects: First, Indigenous self-governance and autonomous territorial regimes in Latin America. On this question, he has published extensively, and he co-edited a themed issue for a specialized academic journal in the field of Indigenous studies. In 2016 Pérez co-edited a thematic issue of the Latin America and Caribbean Ethnic Studies Journal (LACES) on the topic of Indigenous Autonomies in Latin America. Pérez's second area of interest is the governance of small-scale fisheries in the global south, with a particular geographical concentration on the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast. Pérez is a researcher associated with the Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and with the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University. His current research involves the comparative study of multiethnic and Indigenous governance regimes in the Americas, which will result in the publication of a volume on Indigenous Autonomy in the Americas. This publication is sponsored by the International Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (IWGIA) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (Kakenhi).
	Martha Stiegman, Ph.D. (Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University) Martha Stiegman is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. She is white settler of mixed French ancestry, who grew up in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia. Her community-based research and collaborative video work examine Indigenous / settler treaty relations in their historic and contemporary manifestations, with particular attention to food sovereignty and justice; as well as participatory and visual research methodologies. Recent publications include A Treaty Guide for Torontonians with the Talking Treaties Collective; Recognition by Assimilation: Mi’kmaq treaty rights, fisheries privatization, and community resistance in Nova Scotia with Sherry Pictou; and Leashes and Lies: Navigating the colonial tensions of institutional ethics of research involving Indigenous people in Canada with Heather Castleten. Recent films include By These Presents: “Purchasing” Toronto with Ange Loft, kiskisiwin | remembering with Jesse Thistle, and We Story the Land with Sherry Pictou.
	Felipe Montoya, Ph.D. (Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University) Felipe is the Las Nubes Project Director, the Chair of Neotropical Conservation and Professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. He received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of New Mexico, his Master’s in Tropical Plant Ecology from the Universidad de Costa Rica and his Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of New Mexico. He is the director of the Grounded documentaries “More Than Migrants”, “Buried Seeds”, and “We Walk the Earth”.