You're living in America, far removed from the actual living traditions and communities in the Philippines. How can you genuinely claim to be an authentic 'cultural practitioner' when you're just interpreting everything through a Westernized, academic lens, not through actual lived, intergenerational knowledge passed down in the homeland?
The two traditions that I practice are around the writing system and tattooing. The communities in the Philippines—I would ask, what communities? If you're referring to the writing, I've spent some time with the Mangyans. But what they've been doing is quite different from what I'm doing at the Heritage Foundation, where I do volunteer work and financially support it. It's quite different from what I'm doing. So I ask what communities in the Philippines are doing what I'm doing. The most comparable folks doing something similar are the Baybayin Buhayn group, with which I have worked closely since about 2009. In terms of tattooing, the most obvious community people refer to is those in Kalinga. I have visited, and you know, just as the Heritage Foundation's visit to Mindoro does not equal integrating, studying, and absorbing a lived experience, as you said. I acknowledge that. But also, what they're doing in Kalinga is different from what I'm doing. Because of socio-economic conditions, Kalinga had to turn into more Western operations. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with that. As I've said, survival and basic needs outweigh any cultural preservation initiatives. Regarding the claim to be authentic, I don't think that in any of my literature or talks I've ever claimed to be authentic. And authentic is one of those words that can be defined in many ways. I see it as having the privileged and earned privilege to de‑Westernize or decolonize a certain practice. My practice is lived experience. I’m living and have experienced. The intergenerational knowledge has made its way from the homeland, but it has been disconnected. And so, just like our ancestors who traveled far and wide, I and others in the diaspora are continuing that, along with the folks back home.