NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I have spent untold hours in the collection of the Micronesian Area Research center going through stacks upon stacks of newspapers looking at ads of those running for political office in Guam. Although I don't mention it much, when I began my masters thesis at the University of Guam in Micronesian Studies, my initial topics was actually political campaigns in Guam and analyzing Chamoru discourse in campaigns. I conducted around 50 interviews over several months, with a wide range of people. My intent was to reveal what role Chamoru "culture" or "language" or "identity" played in the organizing of political campaigns, the outreach, the strategizing or rationale. My own motivation for taking on this project was tied to the 2002 Guam gubernatorial campaign. I was a young Chamoru grad student, who had started learning speaking Chamoru the year prior and was functionally, albeit awkwardly fluent in Chamoru. I was spending most of my free time in MARC

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 UN C24 Regional Seminar in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was my fourth occasion to testify as an expert in this setting. My first invitation was in Ecuador in 2013. This was followed by twice in Nicaragua in 2015 and 2016. After going through my old testimonies in preparation for this year's seminar I did not cringe, as I normally would when reviewing old work or writings. I noticed in my first instance of testifying that I was very general and almost theoretical. I was using elements of the dissertation in Ethnic Studies that I had just finished a few years earlier. In the years since I have shifted to providing more updates to the C24 and more facts about what is happening and the impediments that Chamorros and Guam face.  As a bit of nostalgia, I'll post here my testimony from the regional seminar in Quito, Ecuador. ************************ Statement to the Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism Quito

This Friday, December 4th from 6 - 9 pm in the HSS Atrium, the CHamoru Language Classes at UOG are organizing their annual event, Puengen Minagof Nochebuena at the University of Guam. The event is free and open to the public. There will be dancing, singing, the praying of a nobena, a fashion show and meggaigai na bonelos. Here is the flyer for the event, the press release, as well as a short interview I did about the event. ***************** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Puengen Minagof Nochebuena 2015 An evening of Chamorro Christmas Traditions The Division of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the University of Guam’s Chamorro Studies Program cordially invite the UOG and Guam community to Puengen Minagof Nochebuena, an evening of Chamorro cultural festivities connected to the holiday season. The celebration will take place on Friday, December 4, 2015 from 6 pm – 9 pm in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building (HSS) Atrium.

For a person of any ethnicity undergoing an identity crisis, there are various stages that you must go through in your search for answers. Some of these stages you may move through quickly, others you may spent more time in, you may find your way to a new space and then decide you don't like it and then turn around and return to a previous point in your journey. For those who feel that they have been deprived of a cultural identity one stage that they must pass through, but which can be fairly dangerous, is the "uniku" stage, or unique stage. Their feelings of loss can come from many sources. They can be from the diaspora and feel like this barrier of oceans or continents stands between them and their identity. It can be an issue of dominant society blocking cultural expression and making them, their parents or their community feel like their cultural has to be neutralized or sterilized before it can be passed on. It can even be a railing and rallying against history

I’m sure that most people out there have heard the term “sausagefest” before. Its a term you use to refer to the fact that something is comprised mainly of men, or to call attention to the fact that there are way too many men here. The Micronesian Island Fair last month at Ipao beach, was a very interesting and inspiring experience, but also one which some might refer to however, as a sade’fest. Sade’ is the Chamorro word used for diaper, but it is also the contemporary Chamorro word which is used for loincloth. For a variety of reasons at this year’s event, there were sevearal dozen men, from Guam and from other islands who were sporting very little clothing other than a small shred of cloth covering their, you know what’s. Chamorros from Guam and Rota who were wearing loincloths did so because of their participation in certain events, such as the building and maintaining of the guma’higai, a small cultural village which was built on the edge of the fair, and was meant to represent