NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The term Diaspora can be tricky, even if it is something that I use regularly and work with and around regularly, even more so during the pandemic.  The Chamoru diaspora used to be a divide. A fairly sharp divide where Chamorus on the island side were fundamentally different than those who were from the stateside. It would come about in an avalanche of anecdotes that could be heard from both ends of the Pacific. Chamorus in the states would complain that Chamorus on Guam were two backward thinking and stuck, not progressing and not advancing. Despite often very similar problems in their own areas in the US, they would speak about things like government corruption or inefficiency as if they were Guam-brand products and certainly didn't exist in the land of Olive Gardens and Costcos.  Chamorus from the island would speak about those from the states as if there had never been a tribe of people more stuck up and full of themselves. For everything back home, there were stories about how

Every territory of the US today is different in some ways, but similar in others. All are islands, even if they are in different oceans. All have non-voting delegates. All are US citizenship, except for one and that is American Samoa, where the people there are US nationals. Interacting with people from American Samoa or with ties to American Samoa is always interesting. Those who are elsewhere in the US but have ties to the islands are often very different than those who are still at home. In recent years, alot of this difference has come down to US citizenship. With those who have moved to the US, lamenting that their status as US nationals has limited their opportunities. While those who are still in American Samoa not necessarily wanting US citizenship because they worry it might mean a loss of their cultural and political rights at home.  It is easy to see the territories of the remains of empire of the US and think that the only recourse is to find ways to further include them in

Ti å'amko' yu' trabiha hun, lao ti enao i sinientete-ku.  I am a little over a year from 40 years of age. The closer I get to 40, the closer I get reflective and ruminate on things. The closer I get to 40, the more I try to make sense of things I've been through and the more I try to figure out what impact, if any I've had on Guam or in general.  I sanhilo' i sabåna muna'lagefpågo i intan påpa'.  Whether my reflections yield things to make me cringe, smile, laugh, shake my head or want to hide away in Yokoi's Cave, changes daily. As someone who studies Guam history I can see places where I, working with other have definitely had an impact. I can see ways in which I haven't succeeded in certain goals, I have seen places where I have changed my goals as the island has changed.  I barångka muna'kåpas hao salamanka.  Robert Underwood once told me that while he was a young Chamoru faculty member at the University of Guam,

Back in September, I spent an afternoon with Håle’ Para Agupa’, a Chamoru cultural group based in the Washington D.C. area. It was an enriching and energizing afternoon. The fafa’na’gue of the group Teresita Guevara Smith organized a gathering of young and old, and I gave a presentation about Chamoru language and culture, and even a short language lesson.  Wherever I go, in Guam, the CNMi or even the diaspora, I am always encouraged to see Chamorus wanting to learn more about who they are as a people and want to do more to keep culture and language alive. After all, for a group that numbers perhaps only 200,000 in the world, we always have to ask ourselves, “anggen ti hita, pues håyi?” When it comes to preservation and revitalization of our heritage, if we won’t do it, who else will? This is an issue that Chamorus have to confront sooner rather than later, especially in light of the fact that more Chamorus now live outside of the Marianas. The realities of cultural maintenan

One of the aspects of Chamorro life that has frequently haunted me and frustrated me is the division between Chamorros in the Marianas and those who come from the diaspora, primarily the United States. It is a division that so much is made about in everyday conversation, which amounts to very little when you interrogate it. There is often times a perception that those from the diaspora are stuck-up, more Americanized and are completely disconnected from their culture and their identity. There is some truth to this, because much of what we get in terms of our identity has more to do with proximity and frequently than actual choices. You feel a certain way about yourself or you struggle with your identity in certain ways based on what you see around you, although there is always some element of personal agency or choice. Because of this, if you are born in Guam or the CNMI, chances are good you will generally know more Chamorro words or slang. You may know more Catholic songs. You may

The Chamorro Diaspora Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety April 23, 2016 I spent five years of my life in San Diego while I was attending graduate school there at UCSD. It was an interesting experience that truly helped to shape and deepen my understanding of Chamorros as a people today.    We may see Chamorros as tied to home islands in the Marianas, but the reality is that more than half of the Chamorro people live in the United States in what scholars refer to as “the diaspora.” For most of my life, I have moved back and forth between Guam and this diaspora — spending a few years in Guam and then a few years in Hawai’i, a few more years in Guam, a few more years in California and so on. Although people tend to conceive of Chamorros as being either the “from the island” or “from the states” variety, there has, since the revoking of the military’s postwar security clearance, been a constant back and forth migration of Chamorros. Individuals and fami

Sometimes I get depressed about the state of the Chamorro language. Whenever I am talking to an elderly Chamorro about how our language is dying and the culture is being forgotten and I see them speaking to their grandchildren in English, it makes me want to explode. Everytime I hear elders complain about the young today and how soft and weak and spoiled they are, but who allow their children to be glued to iPads at dinner or in public, it makes me want to run away. When I sit in a meeting where everyone thinks that the solution to the saving of the language lies with an app, or software, but ignores that basic fact that what we really need is just more inter-generational use of Chamorro, the speaking of Chamorro not across a generation, but rather between generations, I want to set something on fire. Whenever I have a conversation with someone who tells me that Chamorro is only supposed to be used like this, or is only meant to talk about this or that, and doesn't want to expan

I will be in the Southern California area at the end of this month for the upcoming Chamorro Cultural Festival in San Marcos (on March 28th). I went out to it last year and did some outreach for UOG and Chamorro Studies and had a wonderful time. Since we are supposed to begin building our online certificate program in Chamorro Studies this summer, I felt it would be good to go back out and keep people up to date of what we've been doing and keep networking. In addition to the Chamorro Cultural Festival I'll also be helping with the FESTPAC diaspora auditions. Next year Guam will become the most important place in the Pacific for two weeks as it hosts the largest arts and culture festival in the region. For this event Guam CAHA is including a group of people from the diaspora as part of the delegation. These auditions and workshops will take place the day after the Chamorro Cultural Festival, the 29th in San Diego. I'll also be doing more UOG/Chamorro Studies outreach