Karla Martins: A Collection of Personal Experiences by Black Women in Marine Science
Karla Martins Is a Fisheries engineer from Brazil. As a PhD candidate, she is a Black woman in a space traditionally occupied by white men. Karla has a thought provoking and positive attitude to the changes that are being made to dismantle and reconstruct racial attitudes towards education.
My name is Karla Martins, I'm 30 years old, and I'm a Fisheries Engineer. I'm also a PhD student in Fisheries Resources and Aquaculture, at Rural Federal University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), northeast region of Brazil. My research field includes marine ecology with a focus on trophic ecology and migratory movements of pelagic predators such as tunas and others pelagic fish, in regions of oceanic islands.
My contact with the sea comes from when I was a kid. This environment is my favorite place in the world. I grew up close to environments rich in nature, which determined my professional steps and directions. Water has the power to bring everything together! Working with the marine environment has always been my first choice due to the connections, spirit and care it brings to the world. In particular, my willingness to take an active role in facing challenges the ocean, ecological environment, and the planet is currently experiencing. Working with the blue planet is a source of health, well being and realization in all areas of life.
Being a Black woman occupying spaces that were considered primarily male, is a world of discoveries, some bewildering, most of them involve learning and evolution. Racism has many faces, revealing itself through the many identities acquired by the system of racial oppression in everyday actions, from crooked looks, comments of a negative tone, to the doubt of ones own capacity. Racism in Brazil is structural, and I think about the historical perspective. The consequences that have been left along the way. The social gaps and inequalities to understand the anomalies it can cause. I know few Black peers in marine biology and related areas. But, fortunately, I am the result of the generation that is part of a moment of reconstruction of this conjuncture, expanding our mentors in places that were previously emptied of Blackness. In particular, I have used efforts in scientific dissemination as a fundamental tool for the turning point we want to see in humanity. Still, we are few; we want more Black women intellectuals, researchers, divers, scientists. And this is what motivates me to show that our place is where we want it to be. That's where we want to make it happen.
I believe that the more our voice echoes, the more we deconstruct the past and start to build a new history. The changes that I would like to see in the world, not just in my productive sector, are related to the adoption of an anti-racist stance, opportunities for Blackness to remove their questions of invisibility. To find solutions to combat this type of violence, in addition to guaranteeing quality public education and universities, providing access to knowledge for a tremendous number of Black people.
It is only with knowledge and opportunities that the world changes and advances.
We continue!
