Kultivating Kapwa: Special Edition Episode

Kultivating Kapwa: Special Edition Episode

"A Black and Pilipin@/x Solidarity Conversation Led by Black and Pilipin@/x Voices"

This is a special edition episode, and as it turns out, a preview of our next series, Kultivating Kapwa: Conversations with Community.

Historically, the Center for Babaylan Studies has prioritized indigenous voices, but in transparency has not created specific platforms for our Black/African American/Indigenous African/Diasporic African/Pan-African community. We are reflecting on this with an understanding that this is something we as an organization and community are working to be accountable for. 

We acknowledge that there is a complexity of conversation around Anti-Blackness in even our Motherland amongst our Indigenous relatives (particularly with the Aeta, Ati, Agta peoples) and we are learning how this must be uplifted in our conversations and strengthened in relations to our decolonization work. 

This conversation will be rooted in relation to the complexities of Black Identity in our diasporic communities and how our Black and Pilipin@/x Relatives are navigating this time, as our history long movements of liberations continue, ignited by seeking justice for the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Joao Pedro, and Ahmaud Arbery, that echo the countless Black lives lost before them.

Our special guests for this episode are Janet Stickmon, Carmen LoBue, and Sade Adona.

 

Janet Stickmon is the daughter of Lucrecia Mendoza, from the barangay of Labangon in Cebu, Philippines and Fermon Stickmon from Caddo Parish in Shreveport, Louisiana. She is a professor of Ethnic Studies and faculty director of the Cultural Center at Napa Valley College. She is the author of Crushing Soft Rubies—A Memoir, Midnight Peaches, Two O’Clock Patience:  A Collection of Essays, Poems, and Short Stories on Womanhood and the Spirit, Male Strippers as Healers and their Emcee as Griotte:  Why Magic Mike XXL is Deeper Than You Think, and her latest book To Black Parents Visiting Earth:  Raising Black Children in the 21st Century.  Stickmon’s essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Mutha Magazine, and Read to Write Stories Stickmon is known for her essay “Blackapina” published in Positively Filipino and Red and Yellow, Black and Brown:  Decentering Whiteness in Mixed Race Studies (Rutgers University Press, 2017). For over 20 years, Stickmon’s work as an educator, writer, and workshop facilitator has influenced thousands across the country.  

 

Carmen LoBue is the daughter of Monica, who is the daughter of Carmen. Her people are from the Philippines, Nigeria, Cameroon & Southern Bantu Peoples. She now lives on
Lenape land. Carmen is an Afro Fil Am filmmaker. They have been featured in Paper Magazine’s PAPER Predictions: 100 People Taking Over 2019 and are a 2018 New Legacy Maker Honoree (in collaboration with the Disruptor Foundation) for their commitment to dismantling societal injustice, while inspiring community participation through creative platforms. LoBue was most recently named one of “Inc.’s next generation leaders in 2020.”  

Carmen is on the Global Leadership board of Time’s Up and their justice work includes producing and advocacy for One Fair Wage,  Words on White, and the Generator Collective, among others. They have also produced intersectional community building spaces with orgs Everytown for Gun Safety, Heal Me Too Festival, and 5050by2020. 

 

Sade Ifasade Ifaloba Oyaniiyun Olatutu Qweenkobra Monique Adona was born on Ohlone territory and is presently living on Lenape territory. 

Sade is the daughter of Felisha Adona who is of African decent and was born on Iroquois territory. She is the child of engineers, pastors, seamstresses, and share croppers. Her father, Marcelino Borja Adona who was born in Nueva Ecija and raised in Pamapanga, Phillipines. Her father, the son of Roman Adona, was a soldier, and grew up on a vegetable and mango farm. 

Sade, an Iyanifa and Iyalorisa Oloya, Is a practitioner of African diaspora spirituality and culture. Sade is a polymath performance artist utilizing the mediums of dance and music to bring full sensory healing experience of “the urban indigenous intersection”. Her passions are telling the stories of the ancestors and the living, through the lens of ancient and contemporary culture. 

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website, Spotify, PodBean, or Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email kultivatingkapwa@gmail.com, or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik