NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

In his uneven, albeit interesting book "The Fire and the Tale (2017)," Italian political theorist Giorgio Agamben provides an anecdote from the history of Judaism that struck an chord for me in terms of debates over Chamoru authenticity in culture, the issue of contemporary Chamoru cultural dance, and our relationship to our past. Here is the anecdote, which is the source of the title for this book on aesthetics.  “When Baal Schem, the founder of Hasidism, had a difficult task before him, he would go to a certain place in the woods, light a fire and meditate in prayer; and what he had set out to perform was done. When a generation later, the Maggid of Meseritz was faced with the same task, he would go to the same place in the woods, and say: “We can no longer light a fire, but we can pray.” And everything happened according to his will. When another generation had passed, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov was faced with the same task, and he would to the same place in t

This is a list of items that Independent Guåhan made a few months back following the federal ban on cockfighting in the US territories. That was a very interesting time for IG and for me, since a certain part of the Guam/Chamoru community suddenly became hyper-engaged on issues of political status.  For me personally, what made it interesting is that for a few weeks, everywhere I went I would end up having cockfighters talk to me and ask me questions about what can be done and what's going on. One of these days I'll write more about my reflections on that time, but for now, here is the call to action items we created.  **************** What Can WE Do About the Cockfighting Ban NOW? 1. Cockfighting is Culture!  It is important that we continue to defend and practice our culture in the present. Cockfighting is one of those traditions, and it is imperative that we defend our heritage.   2.  Call Your Elected Leaders ! Finding and influencing elected leaders wh

For those interested in listening to Chamoru stories in the Chamoru language, please come join the Chamorro Studies Majors and Minors at UOG for this special event: "Na'haspok na Estoria" on April 28 from 12-3 pm at SBPA 131 at UOG. The name "Na'haspok na Estoria" means "stories that fill you up" as the word "håspok" means sated or filled up as in your stomach being full. The event should be very interesting as most of the presenters are around the age of 40 or less, but still fluent in the Chamoru language. Alot of events that I am organizing or participating in lately seem to have this sort of theme, where those of us who are younger learners of Chamoru and often times second-language learners, nai ti mandångkolo' gi halom i mismo fino'-ta, are nonetheless attempting to take up the kulo' for language vitality.

Fanhokkåyan is my series where I share articles, writings and other documents from some of my previous websites, most notably the Kopbla Amerika/Chamorro Information Activist website and Minagahet Zin e. The one I'm sharing today is an intriguing one, as it represents a piece that helped shape alot of my own perceptions as an early activist about Chamorro issues, in particular their relationship to colonial legacies. This piece, which I co-wrote with a friend of mine at the time, built off the idea of "soul wound" a theory that was first popularized in considering the contemporary place of Native Americans in relation to their historical (or continuing) trauma. It is far too easy for us to argue that we shouldn't be stuck in the past by recounting how Chamorros have been hurt by colonizers, that is a common interpassive point. In truth, we need to recount it and we need to understand it, most importantly so that we can change things today, so that we can reshape th

The other day Independent Guåhan's held it's April teach-in at UOG, this time with a focus on "democratizing the media." The discussion focused on Guam's media landscape and ways that community members can create alternative means of educating or informing people on island about pertinent issues. For years I ran a number of different forms of alternative media, such as blogs, websites, podcasts and even a zine called Minagahet. From 2003-2010 I, and sometimes others ed ited a zine which focused on Chamorro issues from a critical and largely progressive perspective. You can still find it online, although the last issue was released during the DEIS comment period in early 2010. The name Minagahet which means "truth" came from a comment that a friend of mine had written on a message board many many years ago. It was an exchange with some Chamorros who felt that decolonization was stupid and impossible. My friend had written a long response see

"Climate Change is a 'Matter of Life and Death' for The Marshall Islands by Jon Letman Civil Beat 11/4/16 It takes a combination of guts, grit and gray matter to face off against what is arguably the world’s biggest threat — a planet in the throes of environmental and climate upheaval. That’s exactly what Hilde Heine displays with an understated conviction that belies her own determination as a Pacific Island leader. In January, Heine, 65, was sworn in as the eighth president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the first female head of state of an independent Pacific Island nation. Among the many urgent tasks her administration faces is the immediate need to fortify her nation of 29 atolls scattered across 750,000 square miles of the northern Pacific against the impacts of climate change. What’

Chamorro Soil, Chamorro Soul by Michael Lujan Bevacqua May 4, 2016 The Guam Daily Post Last week’s University of Guam Film Festival or UOGFF was very exciting for me personally. In three of the films featured, I had a role in creating, whether as an actor, producer or consultant. I had a minor speaking role in the film “You’re Not Going Anywhere…Kid” directed by my former student Kyle Twardowsky, who shot the entire film on his iPhone. The documentary “War For Guam” which was premiered last year on PBS stations around the United States was also shown. It was directed by Frances Negron-Muntaner, a prominent Puerto Rican scholar who teaches at Columbia University. I worked for a several years as a co-producer (along with local filmmaker Baltazar Aguon and others) on this film that shows the Chamorro experience in World War II, primarily through the re-telling of the stories of American holdout George Tweed and Chamorro priest Jesus Baza Duenas. The final film, which was

Last year I gave a presentation to a high school class here on Guam about the way we can understand Guam history, its trends, its tendencies, its cycles through various Chamorro sayings. For some reason, today I have that presentation on my mind. I undertake a similar activity in my World History and Guam History courses. In order to understand what history as a concept is, I don't give students definitions per se, instead I give them 28 - 30 quotes that people have said about history and its characteristics, its importance or its irrelevance. No single quote is meant to encapsulate everything or explain and cover everything, but rather they each provide some texture to aspects, some structural understanding or descriptions to tendencies. History in the mind of one scholar is an essential part of human activity, for another it is an illusion, a means of trying to imagine control over things you have no control over. I find the complicated mess that the quotes crea

--> So much of the problems with saving dying languages is that people don't understand how languages live and die. They make assumptions about what makes a language necessary or valuable or what might be killing a language or keeping it alive, and often times those interpretations feel real, but actually bear little connection to reality. People fear that certain things which don't actually threat languages are holding knives to the throats of the language. People who have the abilities to save the language, wait passively for Superman or Maga'lahi Hurao to appear to give them salvation in the form of a curriculum or an app. This is, one of the biggest frustrations of my life recently, is struggling to find ways to revitalize the Chamorro language, but bumping up against so many stubbornly held misconceptions, which have to be challenged, or at least disrupted slightly for any language resurgence to take place. People become too obsessed, conveniently so, wit

This week I am in Taiwan, I'll be attending and presenting at the 2015 International Austronesian Conference. People from Guam have been attending this conference for quite a while and I am honored to be the most recent attendee. I'll be presenting a paper titled, "The Austronesian Sakman: The Role of FESTPAC in Chamorro Efforts at Cultural Revitalization." I am attending on behalf of the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (GCAHA) and so I made certain my presentation was connected to FESTPAC which will be held in Guam next year. I'm pasted below my abstract and I'm sure I'll be sharing more about my experiences on this blog. Chamorro culture of the Mariana Islands has been dramatically influenced by centuries of colonization by Spanish, Japanese and American forces. Despite these changes, the Chamorro people have maintained various forms of continuity to their Austronesian ancestors that are still manifest today in

Ya-hu este na mensahi. Gof tahdong na mensahi este. Meggai mamamaisen put taimanu na sina mandana' pat manunu i Chamorro siha. Hu komprende na na'malago' este na guinife, lao i chalan para ayu ti tunas, sen matahlek. Sina ta imahina ayu, lao ti sina ta na'magahet ayu. Achokka' sina manomlat todu i taotao-ta gi unu na palabra "Chamorro" guaha meggai na diversity gi ayu na palabra ha'. Guaha diferentes na dinilitreha. Guaha diferenestes na hinasso put hafa i Chamorro. Guaha ti yan-niha i palabra "Chamorro" sa' maayao ayu ginen i Espanot. Guaha ti yan-niha i Chamorro sa' ga'o-'niha i palabra "Guamanian." Guaha pa'go ma aguguiguiyi i palabra "Taotao Haya" para i mas natibu na na'an-ta. Guaha lokkue' ma propoponi na ta tulaika i na'an - taotao-ta para "taotaomo'na," sa' Hita i manmo'na na taotao guini gi este na patten Pasifiku.  Este na diferensia put

Teaching Chamorro culture in Japan by Jasmine Stole Marianas Variety 2/12/2014 PROFESSOR Kyoko Nakayama’s interest in Chamorro culture prompted her to learn as much as she could about it so she can share it with her students in Japan. Nakayama explained the journey of how her interest in Guam developed into two books, an art show and an ongoing educational tour yesterday when she addressed attendees at the Rotary Club of Tumon Bay. Nakayama’s interest in the island quickly translated into her hope to share the culture with Japanese people. Eventually she met with various local people, including Ron Laguana, Ron Castro and Frank Rabon who would help Nakayama reach her goals. A teacher in the education department at Teikyo University in Tokyo, Nakayama established an educational tour in 2009 which allowed her to share the knowledge she learned from Chamorros with her students. The tour is for her senior-level students who travel to Guam for the tour. It include