Healing Generational Trauma Through Storytelling with Jen Soriano

Episode Summary
In this powerful and deeply moving episode, Carl Allen sits down with Jen Soriano, an award-winning Filipina-American writer, performer, scholar, and trauma expert. They explore the intersections of intergenerational trauma, cultural resilience, narrative justice, and the healing power of storytelling—particularly within marginalized and diasporic communities.

Jen reflects on growing up in Chicagoland as an isolated Filipina-American, her early exposure to writers like Toni Morrison, and how books became her escape and early source of empowerment. The conversation dives into her book Nervous, generational trauma in the Filipino diaspora, colonialism, indigenous traditions, cultural memory, and the role of art, music, and rituals in healing.

🌟 Key Topics Discussed
👉What is intergenerational trauma and how it manifests in marginalized communities
👉Jen’s personal journey: From isolation in the Midwest to community discovery in San Francisco
👉The influence of colonialism on Filipino identity and health disparities
👉Crab mentality, silence, and secrecy as trauma responses in Filipino culture
👉Indigenous Filipino music: kulintang, agong, bamboo instruments, and cultural erasure
👉The importance of narrative justice and intersectional writing
👉How lyric essays and hybrid forms help process trauma
👉Cultural memory and how to preserve lost or unwritten stories
👉Jen’s queer and non-binary identity and how it informs her work
👉The difference between dominant culture and marginalized worldviews
👉Religion in pre-colonial Philippines: animism, Islam, and resistance
👉The significance of hope, love, and community in the face of collective pain

📓 Mentioned Books & Projects
Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing by Jen Soriano
📚 Order on Bookshop.org or wherever books are sold

Making the Tongue Dry
Closer to Liberation (Anthology contribution)
Pearl Abongan’s performance (cultural dance at the Presidio, SF)

📲Jen Soriano contact details:

Paperback book on pre sale - https://bookshop.org/p/books/nervous-essays-jen-soriano/19258500?ean=9780063230132&next=t

Her website   - https://www.jensoriano.net/

https://www.instagram.com/jensorianowrites/

https://twitter.com/LionsWrite

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jensoriano/

https://medium.com/@Lionswrite

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqPVe9oNwDUeU2-AI_Mhi2A

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