NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

When San Vitores first came to the Marianas the Chamoru people were largely accepting of the new religion for a few reasons. The Spanish offered gifts to those who converted to the new religion, including sometimes precious  lulok or metal. They were the newest hottest thing on the island. Exciting simply because it was different, like when Applebee's or McDonald's first came to Guam. Some converted seeing the chance for greater power by being closer to those that they perceived might shake up island hierarchies. Some may have followed the new religion, because it truly spoke to them.  But one of the things that helped San Vitores win over the people in many ways was his ability to speak to them in Chamoru. Chamorus had interacted with Europeans for more than a century at that point via hand gestures and sailors from the Philippines and Southeast Asia who were able to communicate using Austronesian terms with the Chamorus they encountered. Spaniards, Filipinos and African slave

Kao guaha manli'e' hao guali'ek gi tasi yan kumekemåtmos gui'. Ha å'agang hao gi i batko-mu lao tåya' nina'sinå-mu. Manli'e' hao gekpu na kabåyu gi i mapagåhes ya un agångi gui' kao siña ha goggue i mamåtmos na guali'ek. Lao i kabåyu achokka' malåte' gui' ti siña ha komprende i fino'-mu sa' kabåyu gui'. Lao ti un embestiga sa' hafa na siña un komprende i guali'ek lao i kabåyu ti ha hulat kumomprende hao. Un hasso na gaige gi halom i betså-mu un lepblo put taimanu na siña hao mamå'tinas "tilifon para i kabåyu." Anggen siña un få'tinas este siña komprendeyon i kuentos-mu nu i gumugupu na kabåyu. Un tutuhun fumå'titinas i tilifon yan ha ayuda hao i mas mafñot na ga'chong-mu Si Maga'låhi Hurao. An munhåyan hao un oño chaddek i buttones gi i tilifon lao tåya' humuyong. Un atan i santatten i tilifon yan un komprende på'go na taibatteria gui'. Ti siña humånao hao para i tenda

Un diha siempre bai hu fannge' lepblo put i historian i taotao-ta. Esta meggai na kadada na tinige'-hu put este, lao i guinife-hu mohon na un diha bai hu puno' i toru yan na'magåhet este gi un kabåles na lepblo. Lao siempre este na lepblo u matuge' gi Fino' Ingles, ya guaha påtte siha matuge' gi Fino' Chamoru lokke'. Esta gof libiånu para Guahu, para bei estoriåyi taotao nu i hestoria-ta gi Fino' Ingles, lao guaha na biahi debi di bei lachandan maisa para bei cho'gue este lokkue' gi Fino' Chamoru.  Put este na motibu-hu guaha na biahi, mañule' yu' påtten hestoria-ta, ya hu ketuge' put guiya gi Fino' Chamoru. Sesso i inayek-hu put este, ti sen interesånte, gi Fino' Ingles "basic" pat gi Fino' i tatan bihu-hu "mata'pang."  Put hemplo, a'atan este guini gi sampapa', ni' tinige'-hu put si San Vitores. Ti hu guaiya si San Vitores, ti ya-hu meggai put i hestoria-ña, lao hu tung

A few times each year I testify publicly on Guam about something.  Usually it is at the Guam Legislature over a bill or a resolution or as part of a hearing.  Regardless of what the topic is, I try to do it in Chamoru, especially if I have time to prepare my written comments ahead of time, so they go into the public record.  Chamoru is a national language for Guam, which means that it can be used regularly for public activities and public representations.  Official documents can be in both Chamoru and English. Signage around the island can be bilingual.  The fact that Chamoru is an official and national language of Guam is something that many indigenous groups around the world might be envious of, since it provides for a far amount of existing legitimacy and social/political power.  You don't have to fight for recognition, since the law already accepts it. But sadly we don't do more to build off to this.  It could begin in simple ways, such as public signage and go from there. 

I have been working for about two years now on a social studies textbook for UOG Press. This is a part of a project that aims to create locally and regionally focused social studies textbooks for each elementary school grade. In the past there have been a few different social studies textbooks, but often times they were aimed at multiple grades or were focused more on Guam History as opposed to being solid social studies texts. This project is exciting and challenging on many levels.  The grade I am working on is fourth grade, which is fortunate for me, since it is the grade when students are supposed to get their first focused taste of Guam History. It is, gi minagahet, very exciting. I get to use everything from Guam History, to Chamoru language, to legends and local parables to get students connected to the world around them and understand how to be an effective, productive and critical part of your community.  In the first two units, one thing that I have tried to use alot of are l

For those wanting to learn more Chamoru or practice their Chamoru reading, the most prolific writer in the Chamoru language remains playwright and language teacher Pedro Onedera. He has written books, poetic collections, numerous plays and regularly publishes a column in the Pacific Daily News, which is written in Chamoru with an English translation. For those at the beginning of their Chamoru learning journey, his writings might be too difficult or complex. But for those who are already at the intermediate level of learning, they are a great way to push yourself in the language and really try to engulf yourself in a Chamoru narrative or series of argumentative points.  Here is his most recent column from this week talking about håyi i gayu-ña gi i botasion guini giya Guåhan guini na såkkan.  ************************ Ti bai hu bota engkåmen yan hagas hagas by Pedro Onedera Pacific Daily News August 5, 2020 På’go na simåna na ma tutuhon i sanhalom botadot para i primeru ileksion ni’

 

When my son Akli'e' and I played Assassin's Creed Black Flag (Åttelong na Bandera) together, we were both touched by the game's ending ballad, "Parting Glass," a famous Scottish farewell song. Even  after  I stopped playing it years ago, we still find ourselves singing to it in the car and referencing his favorite line from the song "for want of wit." Este uno gof ya-hu na huegon bideo. Ya hu hasso gi finakpo' annai makånta este na kånta, kulang tumåtanges yu'.  Over the years when we sing this song, my kids and I eventually added in our own Chamoru lyrics for it. I've pasted them below.  As I reflect back on the year that was 2019; the love, the pain and everything in between, this song was a beautiful way to bid it adios. ************************* The Parting Glass Of all the money there ere I had I spent it in good company Put todu i salape’ ni’ hu chule’ I manabok-hu hu gaståyi And all the harm that ere I

Retellings of Guam history focus heavily on the end of the World War II on the island, and de-emphasize the start of the war. It is like this for some obvious and some less-obvious reasons. As I've written about before, where you place the narrative locus for these 32 months of Chamoru history will heavily affect what type of lessons or ideas emerge. If you focus on the end, the triumphant American return, where the Japanese are defeated and Chamorus are liberated from tyranny, the lessons seem pretty clear. American power and benevolence and propensity for liberation and democracy spreading. Chamorus become attached to the US and its history through that ending, as an object of their grandeur or their exceptional excellence and virtue. But if we switch the story's focus to the beginning things get much more complicated. We see at the beginning of war, an island where Chamorus trust the US to tell them the truth, to keep them safe, but they also understand in an important

When talking about legends many people become focused on what is true and what isn't true? What is authentic and what really happened? What can be determine from the story that is real and what isn't? These types of discussions may have some importance within a historical context, when trying to understand it from the perspective of aligning stories with a particular history or historical context. For example there are ways that you can look at the story of the Iliad from a historical perspective. There are ways you could try to draw out historical truths from it, and even if some of the details may not be real, you can nonetheless see larger societal dynamics at work in the poem. This is something to keep in mind when we look at Guam or Chamoru legends. Is that there are some ways to examine, analyze or understand them from a historical perspective, but this misses the larger point of their purpose. Legends serve a social or a culture purpose. They aren't meant to be p

Gaige yu' giya Okinawa på'go na simana. Para bei fama'nu'i gi kolehio yan konfirensia guini. I fina'nu'i siha put decolonization yan nina'la'la' lengguåhen natihu siha. Para bei faninterview taotao Chamoru ni' manmastastation guini giya Okinawa put i sinienten-ñiha nu i taotao guini. Put hemplo, kao hinasson-ñiha na mamparehu i estao i taotao Okinawa yan i Chamoru? Guaha meggai parehu put i halacha na hestoria-ta siha, lao kao ma ripåpara este? Pat osino gi lini'e'-ñiha kao manentrangheru? Bai hu bisita lokkue' i kampon protest taiguihi gi este na litråtu. Este giya Henoko, nai i militåt Amerikånu ma keke ekstende i sagan-ñiha guihi, lao i taotao ti yan-ñiha este, ko'lo'lo'ña put taimanu na u ma destrosa i ginefpågon lugåt.

Hu dingu i islå-ku gi ma'pos na simåna ya måtto yu' para Washington D.C. Achokka' ti gof åpmam i tinaigue-ku, esta gof mahalang yu' nu i tano'-hu. Ya este na minahalang, ti put i minanengheng guini gi sanlagu.

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

"Kao pau hånao ha' si Uncle Sam, anggen manindipendente hit?" Fihu hiningok-hu este na chathinasso ginen i kumunidåt. Anggen mamindipendente hit, u fanmalingu siempre todu i kosas motdeno. U hånao ha’ si Uncle Sam, pau dingu hit ya pau laknos yan bo’ok todu i chinile’-ña mågi. Ti magåhet este. Fihu ti ya-ña i Estådos Unidos umatmitde este, lao guaha obligasion-ña nu hita. Put i ha fitma i charter para i Unidos Nasiones, ha aksepta i responsibilidåt, este mafa’na’an “inanggokko sagrådu” a sacred trust. Na para u ga’chungi hit gi este na chålan mo’na. Guaha meggai na klasen ayudu na ha oblibliga muna’guaha, lao para este na kuestion, uno mås propiu para ta diskuti, i tiempon “transition.” Este na klasen kontråtan, fihu masusedi gi taiguini na klasen tinilaikan pulitikåt gi otro na tåno’ lokkue’. Siña este na tiempon tinilaika tinaka’ uno año, tres años, dies años, pat bente pat trenta años. I inapmåm-ña ha dipepende gi håfa diniside ni’ dos na n