NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

When the protest group Nasion Chamoru first emerged decades ago, it created a conflict in the minds of people on Guam. On the one hand you had a group of people who were an emphatically embodying “Chamoru” things.  They were speaking Chamoru, fighting for Chamoru lands and their return, protecting Chamoru rights, and even sometimes sported ancient Chamoru jewelry. But at the same time, for many people, the group seemed to be against everything Chamorus supposedly represented.   Chamorus are supposed to be respectful, gairespetu yan gaimamhlao, do not speak out and politely submit to any form of authority. In the way Nasion Chamoru did not shy away from open defiance and critique of the local and federal governments, they seemed so taimamahlao or tairespetu (without shame or respect). Every culture has their conservative and progressive elements, and an ideological fight always takes place over what is considered to be acceptable and unacceptable. For some, open...

In my Chamorro Studies class last week we were discussing the concept of inafa'maolek, which has become canonized as a central value of Chamoru culture as of late. The term fa'maolek has long been in use, it even occurs in the Garrido Manuscript from 18th century Guam. Inafa'maolek most likely was used as well, but not necessarily as a primal or central concept for defining Chamoru identity or culture. That comes about much more recently, primarily through the work of Robert Underwood when he uses the terms in the 1970s, while trying to define what the Chamoru cosmology of the 19th century was, and what of it had persisted up until the 20th century.  Inafa'maolek has many meanings, all of them however focus around expressing community through interdependence or through cooperation. It is about working together to sustain a society. It is about humans sustaining nature, sustaining their families and so on. It is a collective concept that is focused on...

Respect the Chamoru People Rally April 7 For Immediate Release, March 29, 2017 —  A series of disrespectful acts against the Chamoru people seemed to eclipse what is normally one of the most festive times of the year — Mes Chamoru , a month dedicated to celebrating the Chamoru culture.   Almost daily this month, Guam’s news outlets have reported on military and other encroachment into sacred lands and natural habitats from northern to southern Guam; a court decision against the Chamoru right to self-determination; and Federal threats to the Chamor u Land Trust . For many Chamorus, these actions have sparked the need to remind the community that Guam is i Tano ’ i Man Chamoru, the homeland of the Chamoru people.  The language, culture and heritage of the Native people of Guam and the Marianas are what make our archipelago unique in the world.  There is no other place on earth for Chamorus to call their homeland. Above all, the Chamo...

Several years ago, there was a small but significant spike in Guam/Chamorro based activism around the announcement that rather than Pågat, the US military not intended to build their firing range complex for their military buildup near Litekyan or Ritidian as many know it on Guam. For those unfamiliar with the long, winding road for this the US military buildup to Guam, they created a DEIS around their intent to build the firing range complex in Pågat. After push-back from the community, lawsuits and also problems at the US federal level, this was withdrawn and a SEIS or supplementary environmental impact statement was conducted, identifying the area above Litekyan in Northern Guam as the new location. I attended the public comment meetings, participated in protests and demonstrations and also helped organize teach-ins and forums to educate the public about the military's intended use of this very important cultural and historic area for Chamorros. The level of public outrage nev...

On January 15, 2015, the capital of Guam, Hagatna was shut down due to Marine Corp training that was happening in the area. Roads were blocked off by Guam Police Department. Helicopters were flown over the area and explosions were heard. This created an uproar amongst some on Guam who saw this as another militaristic intrusion into life on Guam, a place already heavily militarized. People often misinterpret the militarized exterior of Guam or extrapolate high levels of patriotism or support for military policies based on the amount of people serving in the US military. This disconnect leads to so many problems. The myth of Guam as being a place where the military is adored is partially true, but the military, because of its intimate and often times invasive and disrespectful nature is also reviled. What is often lost in this is that while Guam is overall very pro-military, that attitude can change quite quickly once people feel like they are being taken advantage of and not being t...

PBS recently did a short documentary about Guam and veterans here as part of their program America by the Numbers. It was a pretty good piece. I was interviewed for the program at the WWII Memorial Asan Overlook as seen in the picture for this post. The interview was pretty long covering a whole range of topics. As usually happens with these sorts of things, very little of it was used in the actual interview. I still think it was a good piece even if I was barely in it, although there was a glaring, but expected lack of discourse around Guam's political status. The issue of Guam's colonial status is always something that mainstream media in the states have difficulty with. You can describe it in a hundred different ways, talk about it from this angle, that angle, give a wide range of options for how to approach it, but ultimately it is for your average media person, something they can't engage with. It would require too much discursive muster, it would consume any piece...