Practicing Community Episode 5: Indigeneity – A Conversation with Sobey Wing

What does it mean to really have a sense of belonging?

So much of the way that ‘modern life’ is lived is displaced from traditional ideas of community, or a deep relationship with the land bases we depend on. A sense of home or community is often one divided exponentially among the many obligations that pull upon our time and many being through connections wholly digital. With an increased sense of malaise and isolation, the ‘old ways’ are becoming increasingly popularized while also bringing with them the hard truths of a legacy of colonialism and systemic oppression. How do we find a good way through these times, what kind of local and global village are we trying to build, unearth, reconnect to? How can we find a common sense of indigeneity that also implores use to strongly root from the center outwards? Without claiming to have answers, this months episode offers some insights into the work of Sobey Wing and his personal journey to do just that.

This month join Sobey Wing, Marisa Taborga Byrne, and Dane Zahorsky for our fifth episode as they discuss the ideas of cultural identity, reconnecting to one’s ancestral lineage, and how to parse ideas of community in an increasingly techno-centric world!

About This Month’s Guest –  Sobey Wing

Sobey Wing currently holds the role of President of Kathara (Katara)  Filipino Indigenous Arts Society based in the Unceded Coast Salish Territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) (tuhslay woah tooth) peoples. The goals of the society are to continue to support re-indigenizing and decolonizing as Filipino diaspora living away from their  homelands. This includes with it a focus on rites of passage. They consult with indigenous people both in the Philippines and with the First Nations people of Turtle Island in doing their work and partner with many organizations. They also strive to be in solidarity with both the indigenous peoples of the Philippines especially those in Mindanao as well as on Turtle Island.

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