Singing My Way back to the Native Sacred

Publication information:

Nono, Grace. 2025. “Singing My Way Back to the Native Sacred.” in Spirituality and the Arts. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality.

Abstract

How does one reclaim ancestral spirit following centuries of colonial onslaughts? How does reclaiming ancestral voice intersect with reactivating relationships with ancestral lands and spirits? How does one carry out such reclamation without enacting colonial tropes of domination? Based on three decades of relationships with Philippine ritual specialists and other culture bearers and a return to the land, “Singing my way back to the Native Sacred” is multimedia storytelling that relates with issues of decolonization, conservation, and more.


Presenter Biography

Grace Nono is an ethnomusicologist and scholar of Philippine shamanism, a singer of mostly sung oral traditions, and the President of a non-profit organization that is dedicated to cultural preservation and environmental conservation. Grace lives in the Philippines with her daughter Tao, their cats and dogs, and fellow human sojourners.