Skip to main content

Dwelling in Place: Journey Toward Decolonization


It's a great honor to share a series of talk radio interviews featuring Dr. Leny Mendoza Strobel, Professor and Chair of American Multicultural Studies at Sonoma State University and Dr. Bayo Akomolafe, a clinical-psychologist, lecturer and author from Covenant University in Nigeria.

Ka Leny Strobel
I met Dr. Strobel, a fellow Filipina, through her leadership of the Center for Babaylan Studies (CfBS), an international focuses on Filipino Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) with specific focus on Babaylan discourse and Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology). The mission of CFBS is to connect with resources and to facilitate the relevance, cultivation and promotion of Filipino indigenous wisdom in an age of globalization.

CfBS organizes events that bring together Filipinos in the diaspora. Through symposia and conferences hosted in cities across the U.S. and Canada. I've had the privilege of meeting writers, artists, scholars, and community leaders who are actively interrogating their cultural "programming" to identify and heal the scars of colonization on the Filipino psyche.

An excerpt from the CfBS vision states:
"We live in a planet of diminishing resources. We live in a time when so many peoples on the planet are becoming disillusioned and disheartened by the narratives of empire, manic global capitalism, neoliberalism, and 'progress and development,' as these fall short in their promise to alleviate suffering, poverty, injustice for a majority of people on the planet. Many are questioning these modern paradigms, because it is becoming apparent that the affluent lifestyles these paradigms have created for a fraction of people on the planet are not sustainable and do not sustain happiness."  
"We are fortunate to still have with us shamans who have access to “The World We Used to Live In” (Vine DeLoria) when All was considered Sacred – the sacred world that includes spirits, and belief in the sacred non-hierarchical interdependent relationship of all species – before it all became disenchanted and desacralized by the rise of the scientific worldview. We still have remnants of old sacred chants and oral traditions, dances, rituals, weaving, drumming and other practices that can re-connect our body, mind, and soul and experience this sacred wholeness."
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe's writings and publications have taken him to multiple conferences and counter-cultural events around the world. He is author and editor of ‘We will tell our own story!’ with Professors Molefi Kete Asante and Augustine Nwoye, and ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home’ (in press; North Atlantic Books, 2017).

He is globally recognized for his poetic, unconventional, counterintuitive, and indigenous take on global crisis, civic action and social change, and was recently enlisted as the recipient of the Global Excellence Award (Civil Society) 2014 by FutureShapers. He is the Initiating/Coordinating Curator for The Emergence Network (A Post-Activist Project) and host of the online writing course, "We will dance with Mountains: Writing as a Tool for Emergence."

In the "Revolutionary Wellness" talk radio interviews embedded below, Ka Leny (as the CfBS community fondly calls her) and Bayo (as he humbly insists to be called) discuss the deep scrutiny required in questioning the incessant motion and noise of our modern lives, and cultivating the practice of stillness toward truly understanding "How to Dwell in a Place," learning how to see and feel in a whole new way.

Part I: Learning How to Dwell in a Place: A Practice in Decolonization with Dr. Leny Strobel and Dr. Bayo Akomolafe



Part II: Learning How to Dwell in a Place: A Practice in Decolonization with Dr. Leny Strobel and Dr. Bayo Akomolafe


Popular posts from this blog

Lucky Tomorrow: Stories

Deborah Jiang-Stein's debut collection of short stories explores the lives of people who are often overlooked. From flower street vendors to families torn apart by ambition, to a woman on death row awaiting redemption amidst a tumult of memories, Jiang-Stein vividly depicts their struggles. Each story is set in various cities where she has lived: Seattle, Minneapolis, and Tokyo. While these settings differ, they share a common indifference toward human suffering. In "Lucky Tomorrow, " each vignette offers a glimpse into harsh realities that are often difficult to confront, yet are grounded in the lived experiences of those frequently unseen and cast aside. The stories convey powerful themes of longing and fleeting hopes for fresh starts that may never arrive. Although the themes are specific to the characters, they resonate with the universal human experience. As an activist and advocate, Jiang-Stein has made a significant impact through her extensive work with women...

Memento - Embracing the Darkness

Dennis "Dizzy" Doan Stories about overcoming and persevering through family dysfunction, poverty, and mental health challenges offer hope and the promise of better days. Dennis “Dizzy” Doan’s memoir Memento: Embracing the Darkness is one such story, with the added complexity of being raised in an immigrant Vietnamese family. Doan’s parents dealt with the mental and emotional aftermath of war, which forcibly uprooted them from their homeland. In the United States, they struggled to create a safe and stable life for their two sons. Doan shares his journey of finding himself, his craft, and eventually a successful tattoo business in Southern California despite personal strife and run-ins with the law. Doan is best known for developing the aesthetic language to combat anti-Asian hate that erupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. His art series titled “Model Minority” went viral, sparking conversation about Asian American identities and harmful stereotypes. In Memento, Doan showcase...

Medicine Wheel for the Planet

Jennifer Grenz, PhD       Working toward ecological healing requires awareness of how Indigenous ancestral knowledge and living ways can complement Western scientific approaches to environmental restoration and protection practices. Dr. Jennifer Grenz (Nlaxa’pamux mixed ancestry) worked for more than two decades as a field researcher and practitioner for environmental nonprofit organizations, where she worked with different levels of government, including First Nations in Canada. "Medicine Wheel for the Planet" compiles Grenz’s most potent realizations about the lack of forward movement in addressing an impending ecological catastrophe.  A warming climate impacts not only human lives but also the natural balance that relies on reciprocal relationships rooted in deep connections to the land. She uses the metaphor of the four directions of the Indigenous “medicine wheel” to invite openness to Indigenous teachings, letting go of colonial narratives, merging lessons f...