Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Core, Episode 2.16A

"Confronting Appropriation of Indigenous Culture- from Capitalist Consumption to Sacred Exchange"

During the next few episodes, we will be focusing our conversations with the Core of the Center for Babaylan Studies. We will be bringing our community in to our intimate conversations around our shared and complex perspectives on the issues being faced in the communities we serve and are working in tandem with, adjacent to, or are challenged by. 

This is a moment for our community at large to be in deeper understanding about the power of being in complication and expansion as we seek similar visions of justice and liberation. And, for us as a core to share with you all our processes of understanding what movement can look like, even when not everything feels aligned in our communal pursuit. We hope that you will tune in and be in relation to the sacred work and service to our collective community that we are committed to.

In this episode, we are joined by three members of Center for Babaylan Studies Core, Vanessa Ramalho, Joanna LaTorre, and Jen Maramba. We discuss what comes up most when we talk about cultural appropriation, where missteps have occurred, personal uncoverings that have challenged the CfBS Core, and more.

Vanessa Ramalho currently resides on the land of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape, also known as South New Jersey. Her ancestral lineage on her mother's side is from Samar, Bisayas, in the Philippines, and her father's side is from Sao Nicolau, Cabo Verde. You can contact her by emailing [email protected]. 

Joanna LaTorre is originally from Ohlone and Ramaytush land and is currently residing on Coast Salish and Duwammish land. Their ancestral lineages are from Nueva Ecija and Ilocos Sur, as well as Wales, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. You can contact them at [email protected]

Jennifer Maramba resides on the ancestral lands of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. She continues to learn and embody the teachings and sacred contracts of the One Dish with One Spoon Treaty and the Two Row Wampum Treaty. Jennifer honours her ancestral lineage of Pangasinan and Panay Island, from the islands commonly known through the colonial name of the Philippines. You can contact her by emailing [email protected].

*Please note that this episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 16

"Sacred Shapeshifting - Body, Mind, and Spirit Transformation of Self for Honorable Relation"

This is a special holiday release episode of Kultivating Kapwa, and we are joined by Lukayo Diwata Bitoon. We explore the concepts of love and justice, discuss where their work is landing, examine the rights and responsibilities of being a guest, the continuum of responsibility and wilderness, and more.

Lukayo Diwata Bitoon, or Lukayo Faye Estrella, is of the Bikol people from Mount Mayon in Albay. They were raised in Tkaronto/Toronto, of the territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Mississaugas of New Credit, the Huron-Wendat, and the Metis of Ontario under the treaties of the Dish With One Spoon and Two Row Wampum. They currently reside in unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin territory, colonially called Ottawa, Canada.

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Core, Episode 2.15A

"Complicating Kapwa - Visioning Solidarity Between Indigenous, Diasporic, and Migrant Peoples Divided by Colonization"

During the next few episodes, we will be focusing our conversations with the Core of the Center for Babaylan Studies. We will be bringing our community in to our intimate conversations around our shared and complex perspectives on the issues being faced in the communities we serve and are working in tandem with, adjacent to, or are challenged by. 

This is a moment for our community at large to be in deeper understanding about the power of being in complication and expansion as we seek similar visions of justice and liberation. And, for us as a core to share with you all our processes of understanding what movement can look like, even when not everything feels aligned in our communal pursuit. We hope that you will tune in and be in relation to the sacred work and service to our collective community that we are committed to.

In this episode, we are joined by three members of Center for Babaylan Studies Core, Jen Maramba, Aimee Gomez, and Orion Camero. We discuss, complicate, and challenge the concept and understandings of Kapwa, explore various personal steps to reconciling and healing, discuss these core members' visions and what is seeding their work, and more.

Jennifer Maramba and Aimee Gomez both reside on the ancestral lands of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. They both continue to learn and embody the teachings and sacred contracts of the One Dish with One Spoon Treaty and the Two Row Wampum Treaty.

Jennifer honours her ancestral lineage of Pangasinan and Panay Island, from the islands commonly known through the colonial name of the Philippines. You can contact her by emailing [email protected].

Aimee's maternal ancestral origins are from MacArthur, Leyte, and her paternal ancestral origins are from Tagbilaran, Bohol. You can contact her by emailing [email protected].

Orion is currently on Ramaytush Ohlone land, and is Pangasinense, Cebuano, Spanish, and Chinese. You can contact them at [email protected].

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 15

"Surfacing Spirit-Sacred Creations of Self, Community, and Land"

In this episode, Julz and Julay recount how their journeys with ink ceremony began and what sustains their offerings, reflect on the discussions of appropriation, discuss the tools that have bound them to their spiritual work, and more.

Julz Bolinayen's (they/them) ancestry hails from the Ilokano people, the volcanos, and the ocean. Julz is a visitor and settler on the island of O’ahu on the illegally occupied Kingdom of Hawai’i.

Julay resides on the Unceded Coast Salish Territory of the Qayqayt (kay-kite) First Nations and also home to the Katzie (Kat-zee), Tsawwassen (sa-wa-sen), Tsleil-waututh (seh-lay-wa-tooth), Stolo, Kwantlen, Stz'uminus (shoo-me-nus), Musqueam (muskweeyum), Kwikwetlam (cuh-quit-lam or Coquitlam), Squamish (skwo-home-ish), and Semiahmoo (semi-amoo). Their matrilineal lineage is from Betis, Pamapanga who eventually migrated to Makati. Their patrilineal lineage is from Solsona, Ilokos Norte, who eventually migrated to Meycauayan, Bulacan.

**Please note that this episode contains instances of profanity.**

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Special Series - Roots of our Sacred Work

"Introductions to the Workings of Core"

We are transitioning to our mini-series, Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Core. During the next few episodes, we will be focusing our conversations with the Core of the Center for Babaylan Studies. We will be bringing our community in to our intimate conversations around our shared and complex perspectives on the issues being faced in the communities we serve and are working in tandem with, adjacent to, or are challenged by. 

This is a moment for our community at large to be in deeper understanding about the power of being in complication and expansion as we seek similar visions of justice and liberation. And, for us as a core to share with you all our processes of understanding what movement can look like, even when not everything feels aligned in our communal pursuit. We hope that you will tune in and be in relation to the sacred work and service to our collective community that we are committed to.

**Please note that this episode has a few instances of profanity.**

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 13

"Honoring and Tending to Our Ancestral Relations to Plants, Lands, and the Planet"

In this episode, we are joined by Angela Angel. We discuss re-membering the earth, plants, elements, and all non-human beings as Kapwa, the moments she realized she was called to her path, her most recent lessons from the earth and land, and much more. 

Angela is currently residing in Ohlone Territory, specifically the Sogoretea Land Trust. She is Igorota, Bontoc and Ibaloi, Pangasinense and Ilokana.  She comes from the rice terraces of the Cordillera Region, the beaches and salt flats of Pagasinan, and shout out to Baguio, her hometown.

Angela is a healing practitioner, gardener, artist, medium/channeler, and ceremonialist. She has continued her indigenous lineage as a young traditional healer (Bontoc and Ibaloi tribes- Igorot, Philippines). Angela received a vision directing her to explore how ritual and our innate psychic abilities can translate in the “modern world” as a step to bridge our ancestral knowledge and to begin healing historical trauma. She has since worked to integrate this directly with her social justice work. 

In 2013, she began coordinating free holistic and traditional healing clinics with the Bay Area’s Healing Clinic Collective. Angela is currently a teacher for Ancestral Apothecary, School of herbal, folk and indigenous medicine. She teaches regular series offerings: Ninunong Gamot, Philippine Folk and Ancestral Medicine, and Decolonizing Wellness.  She loves tending to her garden and facilitating the connection of plants with people. She is a certified Western Herbalist and integrates indigenous ancestral medicine in her classes. She holds her own healing practice and you can find out more about her work at: Other Ways of Seeing | Etsy - Nature As Muse

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 12

"Teaching Through Creative Justice and the Role of Arts Education in Liberation"

In this episode, we are joined by Renee Floresca. We discuss the use of theatre as an examination of life and inquiry of self, how she turned to books and plays when in search of a mentor, being a veteran teacher and the changes in her approach over the years, being an accidental student with multiple degrees, and more.

She was Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area — namely Hercules, on Ohlone land. She moved to New York City in 2008, and has been on Lenape land since then, coming on 12 years. Her nanay is from Manila and her tatay is from Naguilian, La Union.

**Please note that this episode contains profanity.**

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 11

"Sacred Relations: Building Generative Cross Cultural Relationships"

In this episode, we are joined by Harvey Lozada. We discuss the importance of starting with self, his feeling of responsibility to protect, preserve, and hold ground in San Francisco, being someone who holds space for many of all cultures and ages, and more. 

A fourth generation FRISCOPINO, Harvey is an educator, social worker, healer, art curator, and community photographer.  He is a son of Filipino immigrants from the regions of Luzon and Mindanao, tracing his familial roots in Ramaytush Ohlone territory, or San Francisco, as far back as the 1920s.

Harvey is a humble culture bearer and descendent of abularyos and manghihilots. Harvey’s healing journey began with his work in social activism and engaging young people in the juvenile justice system.  For over 15 years, he has dedicated his life to disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline through youth leadership development and culturally responsive counseling services for children and families throughout San Francisco.  As an artist, Harvey curates art shows and makes photographs to document community stories, social movements and aspires to share OUR truths for generations to come.  

**Please note that this episode contains profanity.**

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 10

"Sex Liberation Education and the Decolonization of Pleasure"

In this episode, we are joined by Justine Ang Fonte. We discuss the concepts of safety, fulfillment, and pleasure, the platinum rule, body agency, using W.A.P. as a litmus test, and more. Justine is the daughter of Glorietta Zapata Ang from Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya and Samuel Fonte from Romblon, Romblon in the Philippines. She was born on Ohlone Territory, lives on Lenape Territory, and is learning how to indigenize the lands she is on.

**Please note that this episode contains a few instances of profanity.**

Here is a list of resources Justine mentions in the episode:

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website, Spotify, PodBean, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//

Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community, Episode 9

"Reflections on Filipino American History Month"

In this episode, Jana Lynne and Olivia take a moment to discuss their experiences with Filipino American History Month, what it means to be Filipino, American, and Filipino American, their personal and family histories, and more. In addition, we include a brief message from Orion Camero, a Core Member of the Center for Babaylan Studies.

From the Filipino American National Historical Society national website: "The late Dr. Fred Cordova, along with his wife, FANHS founder Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova, first introduced October as Filipino American History Month in 1992 with a resolution from the FANHS National Board of Trustees. In 2009, U.S. Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month in the United States. Various states, counties and cities in the U.S. have established proclamations and resolutions declaring observance of Filipino American History Month. 

In light of momentous historical events and current issues that affect Filipino Americans, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) is pleased to share the Filipino American History Month 2020 theme: The History of Filipino American Activism.

Across the nation, FANHS Chapters, colleges and universities, museums and community groups, will be commemorating Filipino American History Month with various activities and events to bring awareness of the significant role Filipinos have played in American history."

**On a light-hearted note, this episode includes a brief cameo by Kalayo, Olivia's son, as this was recorded during distance learning hours.**

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email [email protected], or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//