Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream), Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
Co-Chair, International Disability and Intimate Citizenship Research and Advocacy Hub.
Websites
Biosketch
Alan Martino is an Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) in the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program at the University of Calgary. His research interests are in critical disability studies, gender and sexualities; feminist and critical disability studies theories; and qualitative and community-based research, particularly participatory and inclusive research methodologies. His research engages with the sociologies of gender and sexualities and critical disability studies, as well as their intersections, to theorize and empirically examine the perspectives, challenges, and triumphs of disabled people concerning sexuality.
Currently, his main research project is an exploratory qualitative study focused on the romantic and sexual lives of queer people labeled/with developmental and intellectual disabilities in Alberta. Through interviews with people with lived experiences, Dr. Martino is attempting to challenge ableist and heteronormative assumptions that disabled people cannot identify as queer (Santinele Martino, 2017, 2020).
His contributions as a qualitative scholar have been oriented toward two main pillars: research and training/education. He has contributed to existing methodological discussions through articles in qualitative research journals (e.g., Qualitative Research, Forum: Qualitative Social Research) and conference presentations (e.g., The Qualitatives). In addition, he is currently an editorial board member for Qualitative Research, along with other journals in his field.
His work has focused primarily on institutional practices that serve as barriers for the full participation and involvement of disabled people in research addressing the intersection of disability and sexuality. To support capacity building, he has led multiple sessions and guest lectures introducing undergraduate and graduate students to different components of qualitative research, including ethics, community-based research and partnership building, and participatory and inclusive practices.
Research Interests
- crip, feminist, queer, and intersectional qualitative methods and theories
- inclusive and participatory research methods
- Interviewing and arts-based methods
- Intersections of disability, gender, and sexualities
Selected Publications
Santinele Martino, A. (forthcoming). Ethically Important Moments: Researching the Intimate Lives of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities. Qualitative Research.
Santinele Martino, A. (2022). Researching the Intersections of Disability and Sexuality: The Transformative Potential of Sexuality Research. Sexualities Newsletter Symposium, American Sociological Association.
Santinele Martino, A. & Fudge Schormans, A. (2018). When Good Intentions Backfire: University Research Ethics Review and the Intimate Lives of People Labelled with Intellectual Disabilities. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(3): Art. 9.
