Kuya Book 01 – Coming Full Circle by Leny Strobel / Overview & Thoughts

New project! This is the first experiment of exploring books on the podcast. I’ll be giving an overview Leny Strobel’s Coming Full Circle: The Process of Decolonization Among Post-1965 Filipino Americans. This is a pivotal book in FilAm literature and it has a lot of wisdom and lessons within it. It’s an informal overview, with specific quotes thrown in to highlight the main takeaways.

Coming Full Circle is a project of decolonization based off interviews with post-1965 Filipino Americans . Through a process that Strobel calls “fishing for knowledge” through books and interviews, she organizes themes of decolonization under the categories of Naming, Reflection, and Action. This framework is greatly influenced by Paulo Friere and his idea that oppressed peoples need to name the source of their oppression before they can enact change upon it. 11 generative themes of decolonization are presented, alongside a literature review of relevant material and research.

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Subscribe on iTunesSubscribe on YouTubeListen on Spotify Listed below are direct quotes from the book. Please support by buying a copy!

Chapter 1

Fishing: A Filipino Woman’s Way of Constructing Knowledge

• “When I arrived in the U.S. in 1983 I didn’t know that it would be the end of the “little brown sister” era of my life. Like many Filipinos who have imbibed Hollywood images of the “good life,” I had dreamt of coming to live in the white man’s land. My assumptions about America were shaped by a colonial education that glorified everything white and American. I mastered English, the medium of this education, while the two Filipino languages I spoke, Tagalog and Pampango, and their accents were quickly traded in, hoping that I may win the master’s approval.”

“What is the relationship between imperialism and missionary work? Didn’t missionaries bring their own western cultural baggage to the people they “ministered” to?

“Freire (1970) wrote that by preaching sin and hell, churches appeal to the fatalistic and frightened consciousness of the oppressed. The promise of heaven becomes a relief for their existential fatigue. ”

“The conspiracy of silence amongst the oppressed, for fear of being blamed if we ever admitted failure or discrimination in America – the land of opportunity, continues to be perpetuated to this day as many immigrant Filipinos in the U.S. continue to regale their loved ones in the Philippines with stories of success and affluence while keeping quiet about their lack of sense of belonging and marginalization in this country.”

“individual self-actualization is not enough if it does not translate into action. Facing the fear and shame of oppression requires that we build communities of resistance” (referencing Thich Nhat Hanh in bell hooks, 1993)

“I must look deep within the collective memory of our cultural strength and indigenous imagination for the answers.”

“The healing of the self means the healing of the family”

“Kabilang na rito ang ibang Pilipino na hindi pa nakakaahon sa kanilang isipang kolonyal, na patuloy pa ring naniniwala na ang kanilang kultura ay hamak at walang pag-asang umunlad at magbago”

“Sometimes, it is other Filipinos who challenge this identity, especially those who have not yet escaped their colonized consciousness, and therefore continue to believe that Filipinos come from an impoverished culture, without hope or progress or change”

“May the sun split my bod