Martin Giraldo-Hoyos

Martin Giraldo-Hoyos is a Ph.D. student at McGill University under the supervision of professor Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert. He holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of Saskatchewan (2019), and a bachelor’s degree in History from the National University of Colombia, Bogotá (2013). Outside of academia, Martin has experience in archivist practices, documentary production for television related to Colombia’s armed conflict, and research for environmental projects and art exhibitions. Located in the interdisciplinary crossroads between social, agrarian, and environmental histories, his doctoral research explores the agro-ecologies of freedom created by afro-Colombian communities in the Cauca River Valley, covering the period between the abolition of slavery and the take-off of a sugarcane agro-industry. The recovery of this environmental history is intended to acknowledge the agency of afro-Colombians in the shaping of agricultural landscapes, and to resource contemporary discussions over how to rebuild the ecological foundations of farming communities in the aftermath of Colombia’s internal armed conflict.

Martin is currently co-producing the podcast “Cacaografías del valle d río Cauca” which invites a journey across the soundscape of cacao agriculture in the Cauca River Valley through the voices of peasants and researchers. Cacaografías aims to visualize the forgotten history of cacao agriculture and raise awareness about its imminent demise in the flatlands of the Cauca Valley.