NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

A special presentation by Chamorro Studies student at UOG as part of the 2019 MARC Seminar Series. Sen gefpågo este na dinanña'. Ya-hu taiguihi na fina'pos, sa' ta na'fåmta' i lengguahi ya ta na'gof oppan gui' lokkue'!

It featured presentations by students at the CM102, 202 and 302 levels. It also featured some very special presentations by my CM340 of Chamoru Culture students. One of whom Joe "Dågu" Babauta is included below in a video with his original song that he shared.

TENTATIVEInachá’igen Schedule 2019 Inachá’igen Fino’ CHamoru  March 11 and 12, 2019 UOG CLASS Lecture Hall and Calvo Field House
Monday, March 11, 2019, CLASS Lecture Hall, 12 noon – 5 p.m.
12 noon                       Participants and Schools Registration                                     CLASS Lecture Hall opens
12:30 p.m.                   Monday Competition Opens Guam and CNMI National Anthems and Inifresi                                     Welcoming Remarks by Dean, CLASS, Dr. James Sellmann                                     Welcoming Remarks by Inachá’igen Chair, Siñot Joey Franquez                                     Housekeeping Matters
1:00 p.m.         Storytelling/Umestoria K - 1:             Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic                                                                                     Merizo Martyrs Memorial Elementary                                                                                     Kagman Elementary 
                        Storytelling/Umes…

A few years ago, the University of Guam underwent a long discussion over the changing of its GE or General Education requirements for students. The intent was to update the system and lower the overall credit requirement. No system reform can ever be perfect or make all stakeholders happy, but this overhaul seemed to be strangely arbitrary and disconnected from UOG's mission, purpose or advantages as an educational institution.

For most of its existence, you could argue that UOG was a colonial institution. You could argue that it continues to be one today. When I say colonial, it is not meant to describe that it came from the outside and therefore it implicitly bad. This is something that has been and can continue to be argued over forever. When I say colonial, I am invoking it to refer to the type of education it provides. How it is rooted and what it is meant to do. All cultures have some form of education and that education comes with different intents, to teach certain things, …

Ever since we created the Chamorro Studies Program at UOG, there has been an expected tension within the university over what should or should not constitute the program offerings. While there isn't much debate over whether the Chamorro Studies program should offer courses in Chamoru language, Chamoru history or that discuss Chamoru culture from a theoretical perspective, there are regular disagreements over whether or not the program should offer "culture" courses. As someone who went off to grad school with the intent of helping to "decolonize" the University of Guam, a place where I had received my BA and my first MA, this conflict is usually very personal.

Most everyone can agree that academia should make room for "indigenous knowledge" in a trendy or fad-like sense. In the same way in which everyone might want to connect something about climate change to their work to be aligned with prevailing intellectual currents, we find something similar in …

Last month for UOG's annual Chamoru Christmas celebration "Puengen Minagof Noche Buena" my Radical Chamoru History class performed their own version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" using Chamoru and also references from the Fanuchånan semester and Guam's recent election. It was a lot of fun watching them write it and as you can see in this picture, they used appropriate props when performing it. Here are their lyrics:

"I fine’nina na Krismas, este ma susedi
I fine’nina na na palao'an gobietno
(The first day of Christmas, this is what took place
The first female governor (of Guam!))

I mina’dos na Krismas, este ma susedi
Dos na Påkyo
(The second day of Christmas, this is what took place
Two typhoons (that happened during the semester))

I mina’tres na Krismas, este ma susedi
Tres freskon mannok
(The third day of Christmas, this is what took place
Three fresh chickens (new fresh, faces in the Legislature)

I mina’kuåtro na Krismas, este ma susedi
Kuåttru na gåyu
(On…

ISSUE 18: Sustainable Islands While sustainability is often associated in the mainstream with the practice of “going green,” for island communities, it means much more. Sustainability includes a multi-tiered system of people, resources, legends, heirlooms, land, traditions, and practices. In this 18th issue of Storyboard, writers and artists are invited to draw inspiration from all elements of what sustainability means to islands and island peoples. Possible topics to explore include, but are not limited to: •Traditions • Land Ownership • Land Development • Ocean Practices • Fishing • Planting •Money/Currency • Health • Religion • Resources • Recycling • Reusing • Materialism  •Legends • Stories • Degradation • Consumption • Balance • Inheritance • Ancestral Connections  •Traditional Healing Storyboard: A Journal of Pacific Imagery is accepting submissions of previously unpublished work from the original writer or artist for Issue 18 until Monday, December 10, 2018. The journal’s missio…

Some images I took from the Ayuda i Mañainå-ta Dos event last month. There is a full album available on Independent Guåhan's Facebook page. I was glad to be able to help so many elderly people with their war claims forms, but I could not help but feel upset over my own grandparents not being eligible as they passed away in 2013 and 2015.

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I'm excited to be helping organizing another "Ayuda i Mañainå-ta" event focused on assisting Chamoru war survivors complete their war claims forms. This semester seems like a never-ending parade of interesting and exciting events and this one will be one of the last ones for the next few weeks. I'm excited at all I was able to accomplish this semester, but eager for some rest this summer.

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Independent Guåhan organizes “Ayuda i Mañainå-ta Dos,” to assist elders with completing their war claims application ahead of June deadline.

For Immediate Release, April 30, 2018 –

Last December, Independent Guåhan organized the event, “Ayuda i Mañainå- ta,” which assisted 165 elders in the completion of their war claims applications. In response to public demand, Independent Guåhan is partnering with the Guam War Survivors Memorial Foundation and others to organize “Ayuda i Mañainå-ta Dos,” which will take place on Saturday, May 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.…