NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The image above is drawn from the universe of Starcraft 2 or as I refer to it in Chamorro " Sahyan Estreyas Dos."      One of the reasons the Chamorro language is dying is because it isn’t used for that many things. I try my best in my personal and professional life to use the language for everything or for as many things as I can. This is one instance. Many Chamorros today will draw a line between their "Chamorro" side or their Chamorro identity and the popular cultural forms, such as video games, movies, books, comics and so on, that they enjoy on a day to day basis in what they often feel is very fundamentally different. For me though, those other popular cultural things are not the enemy of the Chamorro language, but universes and domains in which we can extend the language into, find ways to make it at home there, and to expand our own possibilities with our language. Make no mistake, the Chamorro language is a real language, but over the past century, ...

Guaha dos patgon-hu siha. Hohoben ha' i dos. Gof ya-hu kumonne' siha para i fanegga'an para bei in egga' i nuebu na mubin famagu'on siha. Taiguihi i meggaina na manhoben, gof yan-niha umegga' i mubin Pixar. Gof ya-hu este na mubi siha, sa' tahdong i mensahi siha, fihu gof gaisiente, yan sesso mafa'tinas maolek i estoria. Ya-hu lokkue' na fihu gof "simple" i na'an-niha, ya ti mappot mapula' gi fino' Chamoru.  Anai hu taitai este na lista gi Facebook ha na'hasso yu' put i na'an-niha este na mubi siha gi fino' Chamoru. Sesso hu usa este na pininala' siha gi klas-hu. Para i estudiante-ku siha, mas ki sesso sahnge i fino' Chamoru para siha. Esta hagas mampayon siha nu i fino' Ingles, ya achokka' i fino' Chamoru i fino' Irensia para siha, ti ma gof tungo', ya kalang fifino' lagu ha' gi pachot-niha yan hinasson-niha.  Ya-hu muna'halom gi klas-hu este na klasin nina'chale...

I started a website five years ago titled " Fino' Chamoru na Inadaggao " meaning a forum for debating or discussing the Chamorro language. This was initially mean to be a website that would support a series of Chamoru Language Senatorial forums held during the 2010 Guam election. From October 19th - 21st that year, all the Guam Legislature hopefuls were invited to a forum where they would be asked questions in the Chamorro language and be encouraged to respond in the Chamorro language. Now as you might imagine/know, in 2010 and 2015 the overwhelming majority of local politicians, including those who are Chamorro, cannot speak the Chamorro language. Because of this, each participant was given the question ahead of time, so as to allow them time to translate the questions and prepare their answers in either English or Chamorro. Candidate were also allowed to have interpreters on stage with them, sitting behind them in case they had trouble following along or remembering w...

Chamorro Studies @ UOG Proudly presents a special screening of: "WAR FOR GUAM" Directed by Frances Negron-Muntaner A 57-minute documentary that chronicles the Chamorro story during and after World War II. A panel will take place after the film and a Q and A with the audience.  CLASS Lecture Hall UOG 6 - 7:30 pm Light Refreshments will be Provided Please contact Professor Michael Lujan Bevacqua for more information at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com http://www.warforguam.com

The documentary "War for Guam" premiered last month across the US and its territories. There were two showings of it on the local PBS Guam, KGTF. It was incredibly exciting to see this documentary finally be finished, as I first worked on it more than 10 years ago while a graduate student in Micronesian Studies at UOG. I was hired as the local producer who set up the interviews and locations. I cannot help by feel a heavy dose of nostalgia as I watched the documentary and recalled so many moments in the production. Part of the nostalgia was feeling the loss of several individuals who were gracious enough to participate in the film, but who passed away before they could ever see it finished. In this moment as I am writing I find it difficult to even type their names down. A flood of moments during the production and beyond race down to my fingertips, causing my fingers to pause and lock. On June 15th at 6 pm at UOG, in the CLASS Lecture Hall the Chamorro Studies program wi...

I have heard some people say that colonization deprives colonized people of the ability to imagine. I might have even said this at some point over the years. There is some truth to this, but over time I've come to realize that it is not really an issue of not imagining or not knowing how to imagine, to envision a possible future. But it is more about the constricting of the colonized's imagination, of contorting and distorting it so that it will always move and evolve within a groove that matches the example of the colonizer. The vision of the future will always be filled with the shadow of the colonizer's massive presence. It will force the flow of future possibility so that it always seems to head to up towards the colonizer, that the future for the colonized isn't something that is about their freedom, their choices. But instead it is about their accepting the teleology of the colonizer, of becoming him and shaping your future to become a minor version of it. This is...

Life has been keeping away from this blog for the past two weeks. It is upsetting because I haven't been able to finish up all the drafts I started for my "Quest for Decolonization" series. I am hoping to find time before the end of the month, but things are so up in the air right now. I'm teaching five hours everyday and then have film commitments, family commitments, writing commitments, activism commitments, government commitments and a host of other obligations. I have kept this blog going for more than 10 years now and so I promise that I will return to wrap things up. This year's Regional Seminar for the UN was different than any of the other experiences I've had with the United Nations and I want to be sure that I can articulate more of my thoughts. So keep coming back to this blog for the next few weeks, I have a few more things to share about my recent trip and Guam's continuing quest for decolonization.

It is now less than a year til Guam hosts FESTPAC or the largest cultural festival in the Pacific. I am involved in FESTPAC in a number of forms and there are some ways that we are clearly ready and on course and others where ai adai it seems like it'll take a miracle for us to make it on time.  Para i taotao ni' muna'la'la'la' yan chumochonnek mo'na i kuttura-ta (gi meggai na manera) este na dinana' i mas takhilo', i mas sagradu na tiempo. Kada kuatro na sakkan mandadana' i taotaogues i Pasifiku gi unu na isla, ya manafa'nu'i yan manapatte i kutturan-niha. Un sen dangkolu na onra este na para ta kombida taotao ginen kana trenta diferentes na isla siha magi para i tano'-ta.  For those of you who would like to receive regular updates about FESTPAC, its planning and organizing go on Facebook and LIKE the official FESTPAC page. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/guamfestpac2016 Or, each Friday the Pacific Daily News i...

The past week has been crazy and the lack of blog posts reflects that. Between parenting, teaching, writing, film-making, play-writing, endless meetings, interviews, and planning for a summer trip, things have been too exhausting and too hectic. I'm going to try and get back on track with my blog posts about my Nicaragua trip over the weekend. In the meantime I wanted to share this interview I did recently for an undergraduate student about the origins of the Chamorro Studies program at UOG, the program I was proud to help create and even more proud to be a part of today. **************** How did the Chamoru Studies program come about? The initial incarnation of the Chamorro Studies program was developed in the School of Education at UOG. The Government of Guam was mandating UOG to train people who were able to teach Chamorro language and culture in schools and the program was developed under Dr. Bernadita Dungca in order to accomplish that. The ...

A fun and exciting project that has been taking up my time lately. This film project will prominently feature the Chamorro language in new and different ways, and also touch on controversial subjects. I wish I could say more about it, but we have been practicing with hopes of filming in two weeks and I don't want to spoil any details. 'Lalahen Sinahi" is the title of the project and keep your eyes open for news about it.

Normally decolonization discourse at the UN is fairly focused. This doesn't mean that it is focused in a way that it becomes more efficient or effective. I mean it is focused around certain territories only. That certain territories out there, especially those over which there is a territorial dispute between various sovereign nations, they get the attention. They receive the focus of discussion and intervention. In contexts such as the UN, the words of support you offer your allies is your primary currency. It is the main way you show your friendship and solidarity to others. That is why, for example, in the UN the neighboring Micronesian islands around Guam, tend to vote against Guam when it comes to decolonization. Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia all tend to vote against Guam, because it is one of the few ways they can throw their support behind their sovereign ally of the United States. The discussion becomes a nexus of thes...

There are so many interesting things when traveling to different parts of the world. Environments and landscapes change. Languages and cultures change. The sense of time can feel different. The referents that we use to pin down meaning, to create social and cognitive maps shift. It can be disorientating in a very fundamental sense. You rely on certain things to give a sense of stability. Certain things to be understood by those around you. When those shift it can be bewildering.  One thing that I've found most interesting from the two UN regional seminars that I've attended, both in Latin America, is the way the pantheon of historical referents shifts. In a Guam context, there are certain figures that can be safely and comfortably referred to and provide a stable sense of communal meaning. Magellan, Yokoi, Hurao, Kepuha, San Vitores, the Archbishop, various Governors, maybe some MMA fighter or a Chamorro musician. People may debate their legacy, their social value or pulsi...