Leny Strobel
Dear Beautiful Reader,
My grandmother, Apu Sinang, came to me many times when I first started my journey of decolonization more than two decades ago. In these dreams she became alive to me as a Sacred and Whole Woman who would guide me and hold my hand and my heart. More recently, my other ancestors - the Luna brothers: Joaquin, Antonio, and Juan - have also come to me with their open hands towards my heart saying:
"Take our Hearts with You! Our public lives were not perfect but we did our best for our Motherland. Your Mother has this heart. It is also yours."
Through this website, I offer my heart and soul to you. May you find inspiration here to call back your Indigenous Soul. Let's take off our colonial jackets, work through the shadowy parts of history, and discover the gems that await when we reach the clearing in the meadow of Aliveness and Wholeness.
Be Home Now.
Available Now!
20% of book sales until December 31st will go to the Center for Babaylan Studies,
if purchased directly from the publisher. To get your copy, email editor@palomapress.net.
Featured Articles
10 Filipino Female Authors to Read This Women's Month
By ESQUIRE PHILIPPINES
Leny Strobel explores the Philippines' glorious culture before the colonizers arrived. In pre-colonial Philippines, gender fluidity wasn't taboo and Babaylans were the epitome of glory.
10 Books On The Filipino Experience
By VOGUE PHILIPPINES
There has been a growing awareness over the past few years not to neglect the rich history of our pre-colonial past. This increasing interest in our indigenous cultures is discussed in rich detail in the book Babaylan, edited by Leny Mendoza Strobel...
Leny Mendoza Strobel is one of the founding mothers/signatories of the Center for Babaylan Studies (as a nonprofit). The Center has been engaged in visioning and organizing the International Babaylan Conferences, workshops, retreats, symposia, and other events that seeded and tended to a flowering of practices of decolonization and re-indigenization among Filipinos in the diaspora. Her publications - Coming Full Circle: The Process of Decolonization Among Post-1965 Filipino Americans; Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous; Back from the Crocodile's Belly: Philippine Babaylan Studies and the Struggle for Indigenous Memory (with Lily S. Mendoza) -- continue to circulate along with podcasts, journal articles, essays on medium.com. Ate Leny is Professor Emeritus in American Multicultural Studies at Sonoma State University (SSU). SSU was the institutional home of the Center for Babaylan Studies until her retirement in 2018.
Revolutionary Wellness Talk Radio
Hosted by Rochelle McLaughlin
with Co-Hosts Annie Levin and Susan Olesek
How might we learn how to Dwell in a Place, learn how to be part of the landscape, or learn how to see and feel in a whole new way? By learning how to dance, chant, and do ritual? To greet the ancient redwoods in our backyards every morning and hug the trees in the garden? To put our hands in the soil and try to learn the names of all the non-human beings we live with? All these take time. Slowness is key. Practicing presence is difficult for us in this modern culture. We are latecomers to this way of being and while we may still feel resistance sometimes, this may be the essential practice to undo our current cultural conditionings.
Join us for this conversation on disengaging from the intellectual life that demands a loyalty to the faculty of reason with the body and emotions served only as side dishes on the menu of the canon and learn how to bring your whole self - body, mind, heart, spirit - into the only life you have to live, because when you do it changes everything.
Learning How to Dwell in a Place:
A Practice in Decolonization with Dr. Leny Strobel and Dr. Bayo Akomolafe
P.W.A.P. aka ‘Pinay’s Without A Pause,’ is a play on words (if it ain’t obvious already 😅) from the saying, “Rebel without a cause.”
In this case, we feature talented Pinay’s who are trailblazing their way into the creative field without allowing fear to paralyze their thoughts when choosing a career. They’re not putting a pause on their passion, purpose or truth, they’re just going for it!
PWAP is about a community of artists who help others feel seen through representation!
In this episode, we had the honor of speaking with Dr. Leni Strobel, a pioneer in decolonization and re-indigenization. We explore her journey, the vital role of "Babaylan," and indigenous wisdom. Discover how Filipino Indigenous Knowledge brings positive change. Learn from Dr. Strobel's wisdom on bridging generations and reconnecting with heritage. She shares practical steps for decolonization. Plus, catch our rapid-fire segment for insights into her experiences.
Join us for a conversation on preserving our culture and don't forget to subscribe, listen, and let's connect with our history together!
The year 2021 marked the five-hundredth anniversary of Christianity’s entry into the Philippines. With over 90% in the country identifying as Christian and with more than eight million Filipin@s all over the world, Filipin@s are a significant force reshaping global Christianity. This anniversary thus not only calls for celebration but also reflection and critique. This two-day conference gathered theologians in the Philippines, United States, Australia, and around the world to examine Christianity in the Philippines through a postcolonial theological lens. The “post” here is not used in the temporal sense, as if colonialism has ended, but rather, suggests the desire to go beyond the colonial in all its contemporary manifestations.
The first panel, “Rethinking Encounters,” focused on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the islands and its effect on its peoples. The second panel, “Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization,” grappled with the enduring presence of coloniality in Filipin@ religious practices as well as celebrate the ways Christianity as a gift has been critically and creatively reimagined.
This event was co-sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University; the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University; and BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education.
