Coming Full Circle: The Process of Decolonization Among Post-1965 Filipino Americans Paperback – January 23, 2016

Filipino Americans carry within themselves their colonial past, in the form of colonial mentality, a collective term for certain types of thought processes, attitudes, behaviour, beliefs, and misinformation. In the concrete case of the Philippines, the brutal military conquest of the country and its economic exploitation by the US was accompanied by what we now recognize as psychological warfare, or indoctrination, that helped shape this colonial mentality. The process of reversing it is named decolonization by Strobel, who appears to be the first writer to have recognized exactly how the process works in individuals. Decolonization is not spontaneous. It can only be individually accomplished by a conscious sustained effort, as explained and described in detail, with numerous examples, in this valuable volume. There is no heavy rhetoric here, no fist shaking, no fancy political polemics, just patient explanations. Most Filipino Americans have the potential to decolonize themselves, and to thereby enhance their personal dignity, self-esteem, and understanding of their true place in the world, and this is the essential guidebook.