Chamorro Nationalism Revisited
Dipotsi sa' este i kustrumbre-ku. In all my classes I teach at the University of Guam, whether it be English, Chamorro or History the issue of decolonization and independence for Guam always arises. Part of this is because of who I am and what I believe in. This affects how I teach and what I teach. Part of it is also how students see me and how many of them know that if you google Guam and Decolonization or Guam and a wide range of other topics you will end up with something involving me or written by me. I do not necessarily force this issue on students, but always remind them of the importance of this topic as they live on this island and in this world.
Part of the difficulty though in discussing these
two topics is that while Guam is a colony and has been such for more than a
century, the Chamorro experience of colonialism has changed so much since 1898,
1941, even 1968. The colonial difference between Guam and the United States is
not as wide or as daunting or as disgusting as it used to be. In Guam in 1898,
1941, 1944 and even 1968 you could see where America ended and Chamorros and
Guam began. You could see that America engaged with Chamorros only up to a
certain point as human beings or as subjects worth anything, and then after
that dismissed them. It is not that Chamorros saw themselves the same way that Chamorros in the 17th century saw themselves in relation to the Spanish. They did not see themselves as a pure indigenous race of people, but there was an understanding that
The fact that the Americans were racist in how they treated Chamorros wasn't apalling or really that surprising in the same way in which people today react to that past. Most Chamorros today have a generally positive view of the United States and see its sins and crimes as something that are unfortunate or terrible mistakes, but don't really provide evidence of what the United States states for or supposed to be. When you hear about the racist and terrible ways were treated part of the outrage comes from the expectation that they should not have been treated like that not because of who they were, but because America is supposed to be better than that.
For example, when Chamorros today read the quote below from the 1936 Guam Recorder, they feel mixed emotions. They are happy those racist times are over. They get outraged because they can't believe things used to be like that.
It is a fact that inasmuch as the united states governs here, the Chamorro people should make a determined effort to throw off the last remnants of customs, languages, and ideas which are detrimental to their advancement and to which they cannot be sentimentally attached as relic of their Government by another Nation. To assist in this process is the duty of every American on the Island.
The problem however is that for Chamorros in 1936, most, but not all of them, racism and the United States were unified and there was no difference between them. It was not that racism was an offshoot or something that was errant and unexpected, the United States was seen by Chamorros as being racist. As something that fundamentally looked down on them and was reinforcing this in how they segregated life on the island and prohibited their language. This is why I often write that Chamorros at that time knew the United States was a colonizer, they understood and perceived clearly the colonial difference.
But what if history had happened differently. One of the things which has kept the colonial difference stark and real for some Chamorro families is the illegal land takings in postwar Guam for strategic military purposes. In the generations of Chamorro activists or fierce critics of US policy since World War II, their ranks have been filled primarily with those who lost pieces of land (maseha dikike' pat dangkolu) in order to create the many US military facilities that Guam hosts today.
What if, instead of abandoning Guam for the 20 years prior to World War II, what if the US had instead militarized it? And not just a tiny bit, but went full out and transformed Guam into the fortress some analysts imagine it could be? Strategists in the era between world wars claimed that Guam was indefensible and that it would cost far too much to attempt to defend it. What if Congressmen and Senators ignored these recommendations and instead pumped a huge amount of money and effort into Guam? What if the US used the powers they had at that time (and still have today) to take large tracts of land and build their bases and dredge the reefs and so on? What if the period of displacement had happened before war took place?
Things would be very different to say the least.
When Chamorros lose large pieces of land in postwar Guam, the loss of the land is explained and integrated into the logic of chenchule' and a great debt owed to the US for saving people from the Japanese. Chamorros felt indebted to the US for its return, and so when the prospect of giving up their land in order to help the US came up, most were grateful for the chance to give back, to do something to repay their debt. The land takings were seen as traumatic and terrible, especially by 1948 and 1949, when the war was long over and Chamorros could not understand why lands were not being returned or why lands were still being taken. But, they were not seen as something foreign. It was not something that arose in Chamorros such indignity or displeasure at how they were being mistreated that they organically created an oppositional consciousness in challenging it or explaining it. The logic of chenchule' held strong, and Chamorro understood the land takings as a greedy move on the part of the US, in the same way someone who once brought binadu to a fiesta, later assumes that this means he can borrow your car whenever he wants. Chamorros did not use the land takings as a reason to push away from the US, as others might have, because they already felt bound to them through this relationship, and so rather than breaking away, they instead sought to move closer and to hopefully cause the US to change its behavior and treat Chamorros better.
It was funny in 2009 when the dump issue (both Ordot's closing and the Layon opening) was all over the papers, and Federal judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood was wielding much power in the name of the Federal government, a possible walkout of the Guam Legislature was discussed. For those who don't know, an infamous walkout was held in 1949 by the Guam Congress in response to the US Navy's actions in Guam. It received international attention and was a small part of why the US policies towards Guam changed and the US Navy was replaced with the civilian Government of Guam in 1950.
As the Feds were again seen as acting unfairly towards Guam, different activists (myself included) and local leaders were discussing holding another symbolic walkout in 2009. Nothing came from this, except for lots of discussion and several posts on this blog included one of my favorites "A Guam Legislature Walkout?" The Legislature, under the leadership of Speaker Judi Won Pat (whose father was speaker during the Guam Congress Walkout), held a laughable and very embarrassingly small "forum" in front of the Federal Courthouse in Anigua where they discussed the walkout and other issues of Federal Territorial Relations. The rhetoric for that forum were far more interesting than the event itself, which was planned at the very last minute with almost no one who didn't work at the Legislature knowing it was taking place.
The coverage for the event, claimed that there might be on Guam a "rise in nationalism." Government rhetoric, especially from the Legislature seemed to be more openly critical of the US government, and so one article from the Marianas Variety identified that as a sign of an emerging nationalism. I found this analysis cute but woefully incorrect. The expression of discontent in both 1949 and 2009 are not nationalistic in nature. They do not argue the primacy of a local nation or a Chamorro nation. They do not seek to establish the alterity of said nation.
In both cases, if you pay attention to the rhetoric it is still
very much caught in the chenchule' dynamic. It is discontent that seeks a
better deal from someone or something that it recognizes as being in charge or
being better. Their discontent is expressed in terms of not being fairly, but
as to what they invoke as the proper treatment, it is not human rights, it is
not the rights of a people of Guam, but as people attached to the United
States. They are not being treated the way people who are Americans or part of
an American dependency is being treated. That is not nationalism. You can call
it anti-Federalism or local antagonism, but not nationalism.
Part of the frustration of trying to push for decolonization in Guam today is that way that what should be nationalism is always entangled in Americanization. That even those who critique and challenge the US often do so from the stance of being American or not being treated as proper Americans. This means that seeing the truth of the relationship that Guam has with the US is always problematic, because even those who appear to be critical, may in many ways only be able to see the situation within an American context and nothing else. That means so many things, but in a fundamental sense it means that people on Guam will always have trouble dealing with the US, and never be able to see the relationship for what it is because of how they take their presence in the US as the basis for their ability to speak, to think, to exist and to have rights and be a possible subject.
Part of the frustration of trying to push for decolonization in Guam today is that way that what should be nationalism is always entangled in Americanization. That even those who critique and challenge the US often do so from the stance of being American or not being treated as proper Americans. This means that seeing the truth of the relationship that Guam has with the US is always problematic, because even those who appear to be critical, may in many ways only be able to see the situation within an American context and nothing else. That means so many things, but in a fundamental sense it means that people on Guam will always have trouble dealing with the US, and never be able to see the relationship for what it is because of how they take their presence in the US as the basis for their ability to speak, to think, to exist and to have rights and be a possible subject.
Many activists, especially those who are young and looking to find a place amongst the different groups and ways of articulating a decolonial or anti-base agenda make this easy mistake. They assume that someone who criticizes the Federal Government or the United States must be on their side. Because Senator Fulanu or Tan Fulanu said something I agree with they must share the same nationalist sentiment. This is where the the power of rage in articulating a political project can be both powerful but dangerous. Those who make these critiques are upset, they feel offended, disrespected, mistreated.
As I often write the difference here is generally felt in terms of fina'taotao and fina'ga'ga'. To be treated like you are human, a real person, or to be treated like you are an animal and less than human. If you are interested in decolonization and looking for allies be wary. If someone makes an argument that you like especially about how people on Guam are being treated or that they deserve better, pay attention to the source of their rage. Although it does sound as if they are claiming that they wish to be mafa'taotao or treated with dignity and respect, are they really seeking to be mafa'Amerikanu? To be treated like an American?
You could say that a Chamorro nationalism was formed in postwar Guam, but it is
a minor and dependent nationalism. It is one that relies on the US for
existence. This would have been very different however if the counterfactual
that I mentioned above had taken place.
If the US had built up Guam prior to World War II with the same intensity that it did after the war, then Chamorros would have been given a less appetizing view of US militarization. They would have seen the negative aspects first, prior to seeing its liberating potential. They would have seen these acts of land taking and dispossession in a radically different light. They would have felt the sting of losing land not as something that they are doing to pay back the US, but something is unfair and unjust in their own light. It would be something that they would not make excuses for, but struggle to find a way to rationalize politely in their minds. They would look and think about what the US has and hasn't given them, and how the US has treated them up to that point. They would feel the colonial difference as a massive gulf between them and those who are not displacing them, and it would play a huge role in whether or not they can justify this as being something alright since the US is defending us and helping us, or that the US is taking advantage of us and oppressing us.
The key point here is that the suffering of World War II and the Americanizing aspects of it would not exist yet and so all the reasons that Chamorros used to justify that them being treatment with such disrespect in post war Guam couldn't easily be invoked here. As a result, the seeds of a Chamorro nationalism might have been sown. The loss of so much land and the bringing of so much military to Guam might have created a deeper rift between Chamorros and the US, and that rift would have then changed how they interpreted their occupation by the Japanese. It could have made them become more attached to the United States, it could have made them less attached.
I often wonder how my life and how Guam would be different if an strong nationalist spirit existed. As a historian it is an interesting exercise to consider and imagine how things might have happened differently, but ultimately we are still stuck with the way in which history ran its course. But thinking about those counterfactuals can still be helpful in giving you an insight into the way things did turn out, and what factors brought things there.
If the US had built up Guam prior to World War II with the same intensity that it did after the war, then Chamorros would have been given a less appetizing view of US militarization. They would have seen the negative aspects first, prior to seeing its liberating potential. They would have seen these acts of land taking and dispossession in a radically different light. They would have felt the sting of losing land not as something that they are doing to pay back the US, but something is unfair and unjust in their own light. It would be something that they would not make excuses for, but struggle to find a way to rationalize politely in their minds. They would look and think about what the US has and hasn't given them, and how the US has treated them up to that point. They would feel the colonial difference as a massive gulf between them and those who are not displacing them, and it would play a huge role in whether or not they can justify this as being something alright since the US is defending us and helping us, or that the US is taking advantage of us and oppressing us.
The key point here is that the suffering of World War II and the Americanizing aspects of it would not exist yet and so all the reasons that Chamorros used to justify that them being treatment with such disrespect in post war Guam couldn't easily be invoked here. As a result, the seeds of a Chamorro nationalism might have been sown. The loss of so much land and the bringing of so much military to Guam might have created a deeper rift between Chamorros and the US, and that rift would have then changed how they interpreted their occupation by the Japanese. It could have made them become more attached to the United States, it could have made them less attached.
I often wonder how my life and how Guam would be different if an strong nationalist spirit existed. As a historian it is an interesting exercise to consider and imagine how things might have happened differently, but ultimately we are still stuck with the way in which history ran its course. But thinking about those counterfactuals can still be helpful in giving you an insight into the way things did turn out, and what factors brought things there.
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