Defining Decolonization 🌀
This week’s topic in the Decolonization Dojo is defining the word: Decolonization.
When I first came across this word in my early 20s, I felt like it really resonated with the journey I was on. Yet, my understanding of this word has changed over time. Initially, I understood it on an intellectual and academic level, but it wasn’t until I started unlocking the stories within my body that I truly grasped what the process of "decolonizing" involved. In fact, for a while, I hesitated to use the word at all to describe the embodied transformation I was experiencing.
While I was certainly "unlearning" colonial narratives by feeling through the challenging emotions tied to them, the word “decolonization” didn’t capture the feelings of expansion and self-love that emerged. I began to realize that this new embodied understanding of my worth goes beyond healing the wounds of colonization. The journey I was on—though it reconnected me with my warrior heritage and helped shed limiting narratives—was much bigger than simply shifting through inherited colonial stories. It was the universal human journey towards wholeness.
Since then, I’ve questioned whether this word fully encompasses the depth of the journeys we are on as Filipino/a/x individuals and as a community. We use this word frequently, but what does it really mean to each of us? Does it limit us, or can it be infused with new meaning?
In this session, let’s explore these questions together. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what decolonization means to you. Has your understanding changed over time? As you reflect on your journey to rediscover your roots, heal historical trauma, reconnect with your body, and embrace your role as a future warrior ancestor—what words or feelings arise and ring true for you?
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