Martina Angela Caretta

I am a feminist geographer researching human-environment interactions with a particular focus on the climate change adaptation and mitigation. My research focuses on extractivism geared towards the so-called green transitions in a transnational context. I specifically investigate 1. resistance to extractivism in Ecuador and compare with data from South Africa; 2. gender, care and labor dynamics along the lithium supply chain in Chile and Sweden;  3. agricultural adaptation in Scania, Sweden. 

I carry out research grounded on feminist epistemology prioritizing situated, lived and Indigenous Knowledge, epistemic plurality, participatory methodologies, ethics of care and a decolonizing approach.  Accordingly, I have disseminated my research in different formats e.g. art-exhibit, workshops with research participants and booklets in local languages. 

I have conducted research in Kenya, Tanzania, Ecuador,Venezuela and Appalachia in the USA. I am multilingual and have taught and given TV, radio and written press interviews in English, Spanish, Italian and Swedish.

 I served as Coordinating Lead Author of the 2022 6th United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report. I led the chapter on Water in the 2nd Working Group on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation.

In my feminist academic practice critically explore the neoliberal turn of the academia and its consequences for early- career female faculty and PhD researchers. I am a member of the International Geographical Union Gender Commission Steering Committee.

Ongoing projects 

 A just TRANSport TRANSformation? A TRANSnational, FEMinist analysis of the social reproduction of the lithium and copper supply chain. TRANS-FEM funded by FORMAS (2024-2028). This study uses a feminist approach to investigate the labor conditions of the transnational supply chain of the lithium and copper commodities required to power the green energy transition of Electric Vehicles in Europe. Through a mixed-methods approach, the project examines the transnational connections from Antofagasta, Chile (the places of extraction and export) to Skellefteå, Sweden (the place of manufacture of e-batteries). 

Women’s resistance to extractivism. A transnational embodied framework for analysis funded by FORMAS with Dr. Vasna Ramasar as a PI. (2023-2026) This research proposes to theorise this relation through a transnational study of women’s resistance to extractivism. Using interviews, body-territory mapping and workshops, the study will explore embodied experiences of women in extraction zones through two case studies in Ecuador and South Africa. The aim is to develop a transnational analytical framework for the link between the gendered effects of extractivism and the resistance to it.

Climate resilient development - a study of women and immigrant ecopreneurs’ led innovation in agriculture (2024-2027) funded through Browaldhs Handelsbanked Postdoc. Departing from a feminist epistemological angle, at the intersection of human geography and innovation studies this project aims at understanding how the green transition in agriculture can be climate resilient, inclusive and innovative in a bottom-up and place-based manner. The project focuses on a case study of REKO Ringen in Sweden - local consumption groups marketing ecological produce through social media - as a prototype of organizational, communication and agricultural innovation that combines climate friendly practices with new entrepreneurial routines. Together with Dr. Rhiannon Pugh, I am supervising the postdoctoral fellow Oscar Kruger on this project.

Doctoral advising

I am the main advisor of two doctoral candidates in Human Geography:

• Catalina Quiroga (expected 2026) 
• Ingrid Altamirano (expected 2028)

I am course convener for courses on 

• landscape and political ecology SGEM22 in the Human Geography MA program
• Internship course SGER12 and SGER22 
• I regularly advise MA theses in Human Geography and Graduate School focusing on my areas of expertise