NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

There is an wonderfully engaging and educational free exhibit at the Guam Museum right now titled "Yanggen Ti Hita Pues Håyi?" which chronicles the movements for self-determination and decolonization over the past century in Guam. While the exhibit is up, community groups are taking advantage of the space and the history on the walls, to hold events and talks. It is wonderful to be in the space, surrounded by the work, voices and reminders of so many who have gone before. The Guam Bus and the Guam Commissionon Decolonization are holding one such workshop tomorrow titled "Yanggen Ti Hita Tumuge', Pues Håyi?" meaning "If We Don't Write It, Then Who?" It is free for all to attend and will take place tomorrow night, (6/3) in the Guam Museum's rotating gallery from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.   As part of the event, some local writers will share their work, Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, a writer and head of UOG Press will offer some tips on how to get your wo...

In October 2017, I traveled with Independent Guåhan, and joined the largest delegation ever from Guam to testify at the United Nation. This was a time when North Korea threats were bring new attention to Guam, and President Trump’s rhetoric of “fire and fury” was increasing the temperature in the region. We were joined by Governor of Guam Eddie Calvo and several Guam Senators who also testified about the situation in the island. It was an important moment. After spending a few days in New York, where we spoke at different universities, talking about Chamoru history, culture, militarization in the Marianas, the history of decolonization, I rented a car and drive down south to Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland to conduct research on a variety of topics. I attended a Chamorro Night celebration organized by the Guam Society of America, met members of Håle' Para Agupa' for the first time and conducted some interviews with manåmko' that were living in the diaspora. The real ...

Over the years, as I’ve traveled around Asia and the Pacific, whether for research, for conferences, for solidarity actions, I’ve found a list of places similar to Guam, that you could call ambiguous. They belong to a certain country, but they don’t really feel like it at times. Okinawa is one such place. There is way that history and culture have combined to create a rift between Japan and Okinawa, that is invisible most of the time, but is the stark the next. There was a sense of pride and identity that could not be explained solely through references to regionalism or local love. It was something more, and something very similar to what we see on Guam. The particularities of history have created the situation where you can stand in either Guam or Okinawa and say with great force that these places are either American or Japanese. Colonialism and imperialism have taken these places and remade them. They might have said they did so for the benefit of the people there, but they noneth...

  On February 1 st , 2014, 12 years ago, a group of activists, cultural practitioners, scholars, students and artists, through groups such as Our Islands are Sacred and Hinasso organized an event called "Lukao Fuha." It was a pilgrimage, a special walk from Humåtak Bay to Laso' Fouha or Fouha Rock, that was meant to symbolize for Chamorus, walking in the ceremonial footsteps of our ancestors in a variety of ways. Firstly, Fouha Rock is thought to symbolize an important part of the Chamoru creation story, as it represents the body of Fu'una, who with her brother (whose body is the land itself) gave up their forms and their energy to create the Chamoru people and our islands. Secondly, early Spanish accounts discuss that the largest gatherings for ancient Chamorus in the 16th and 17th centuries took place around a large rock, and part of these gatherings was the retelling of the creation stories and other legends that went back connecting centuries and generations of st...

Independent Guåhan has organized a petition to give voice to the community's opposition to Senator Will Parkinson's Bill 242-38 which would eliminate the right of the Chamoru people to self-determination in a decolonization plebiscite. The petition text is below. It'll be presented to the Guam Legislature on Wednesday, February 18th at the public hearing for the bill.  *********************  We, the undersigned, express our steadfast opposition to Bill 242-38, which eliminates the ability of the CHamoru people to exercise their internationally recognized right to self-determination. The bill seeks to open eligibility to participate in a decolonization plebiscite to all registered Guåhan voters. One merely has to have lived on the island for 30 days to establish residency and be able to register to vote in Guåhan’s elections. This means that new or even temporary residents with no ancestral, cultural, or historical ties to the island, and who have not suffered fro...

Amongst Guam and Chamoru legends, you will find different themes, different archetypes. Some of them are familiar, common, while some are much more complicated and show clear layers of intervention and influence. This legend for example, which goes by many different names and has lots of different versions is one such fascinating example. It clearly shows European elements. You can see in it tropes that are common in other cultures, where deities visit the human world to test or view real, unvarnished life. And then from these experiences some one or some group is chosen to represent the best that humanity has to offer and others are punished.  There are versions of this type of story that go back to the Spanish era, but then there are others that show the editing or altering due to educators or writers adapting them in certain ways. One of the things that I enjoy most about this type of Chamoru legend though is how it becomes a creation story for the Chamoru people, after coloniza...