by Natalia Pastori Curbelo
My name is Natalia, and I have recently joined Includovate as an Associate Researcher.
With my 30th birthday approaching — a sort of milestone in one’s life, marking the end of youth — I thought it was time to take a moment and reflect on my journey with feminism through this blog.
Let me introduce myself first. I was born in Uruguay, but I am currently living in Brazil. I am my parent’s only daughter and I have three brothers. Spanish is my first language, but I have had the privilege of studying English, French and, most recently, Portuguese. After completing my graduate degree in Political Science, I moved to Spain, where I attended the Complutense University of Madrid and earned my Master’s degree in Government and Public Administration. After graduation, I wanted to continue my studies, so when the opportunity to study in Brazil presented itself, I was excited to take on that challenge. In 2019, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities (GCUB) awarded me a scholarship to attend the Federal Fluminense University where I achieved my Master’s degree in Social Policy. The rest is history, as they say, and I now live in the south of Brazil while working remotely at Includovate, connecting with incredible professionals daily.
When I think about it, I realise my first encounter with feminism was through a feeling of discomfort. Why was I asked to do certain things, and my brothers weren’t? Why was my mother more demanding of me, expecting me to be naturally better at domestic tasks? Why was my safety a bigger concern? Why was my sexuality a bigger concern? All of these elements, though subtle, were present while I was growing up.
When I began university, a true feminist revolution started in my mind and has not stopped. As I became more in touch with gender studies and feminist views, my understanding of my family, my relationships, and my society shifted. My growing interest in feminism led me to explore matters related to gender inequality and to work on issues linked to violence against women, such as people trafficking and forced prostitution.
However, I recognise that my understanding has evolved and is evolving, especially since living in Brazil and learning about the work of feminists like Sueli Carneiro and Luiza Bairros, both influential intellectuals in the Afro-Brazilian feminist movement. They pushed for the inclusion of Black and Indigenous women’s outlook and concerns in the feminist movement as a way of acknowledging their specific social experiences. Through their work, I was introduced to intersectional feminism, a lens I adopted that acknowledges the disparities among women and the implications of their overlapping social identities. Intersectionality led me to embrace a post-colonial view, rejecting a Euro-American outlook that tends to universalise the different forms of oppression that women and other individuals experience.
While reflecting on my feminist evolution, I have come to realise how personal it has been. I consider my journey with feminism to be a process of self-acceptance and self-discovery. As bell hooks once said, “feminists are made, not born.” However, that doesn’t mean it has been a lonely journey. I have been continuously influenced by the work and activism of others, from the time I studied Political Science in Uruguay and I had my first class on Politics, Gender and Sexual Diversity to the powerful feminist organisations I connected with while living in Brazil, whose activism inspired me.
As such, it has been an individual and a collective journey. And I hope it will continue to be so in the next decade of my life as I grow and evolve and as others join me in this walk.
About the Author
Natalia Pastori Curbelo works as a Bilingual Associate Researcher at Includovate. She graduated from the Republic’s University in Uruguay with a degree in Political Science and later on, completed her Master’s degree in Government and Public Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). In 2019, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities (GCUB) awarded her a scholarship that allowed her to study at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) in Brazil and achieve her second Master’s degree in Social Policy. She has experience in Policy Analysis, Policy Evaluation, and Social Network Analysis, mainly focusing on social protection issues, gender, and migration. Natalia is currently based in Brazil and can speak Spanish, English, French and Portuguese, fluently.
Includovate is a feminist research incubator that “walks the talk”. Includovate is an Australian social enterprise consisting of a consulting firm and research incubator that designs solutions for gender equality and social inclusion. Its mission is to incubate transformative and inclusive solutions for measuring, studying, and changing discriminatory norms that lead to poverty, inequality, and injustice. To know more about us at Includovate, follow our social media: @includovate, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.