NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

For those of you who don’t know, my dissertation in Ethnic Studies dealt with sovereignty, most specifically Guam’s role in producing America’s sovereignty, or what role its invisibility or nothingness plays in producing America as sovereign. This may sound confusing, but what makes it difficult for most to wrap their heads around, is the simple fact of saying that something which has been for hundreds of years produced discursively as being “small” or “faraway” or “faint” or “owned by the US” as somehow creating something as great and grand and mighty as the United States of America. One frustrating aspect of writing my dissertation was the preparing of a literature review, which is a sometimes helpful, sometimes useless review of what others have written about your topic of choice and how you will either use and build on them or defy them. If you are familiar with the bulk of work on sovereignty it all basically says the same thing nowadays, drawing mildly different c

One of the most irritating things about life on Guam is that the island is incredibly multilingual as well as multicultural, but because of our colonial past and present, we tend to force everything into very unfortunate monolingual frameworks. It is important to be able to see past the colonial examples presented by the United States and look at the rest of the world, especially where small language communities, who are in similar situations as Chamorros, are struggling to promote and preserve their indigenous tongues. Here are some articles to consider in this regard. *************************** Bilingual Street Signs Herald a New Era of Language Revitalization by Frank Hopper 2/29/16 Indian Country Today Media Network In 1990, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe estimates only eight people knew how to speak the Klallam language. Now they’re putting it on street signs. Earlier this month, the city of Port Angeles, on the north end of Washington State’s Olympic

After the Cold War ended, conservative philosopher/political theorist Francis Fukuyama penned an argument about "the End of History." His basic thoughts boiled down to the idea that with the United States victorious in the Cold War, and with Communism and Marxist thought and governments disappearing, the dialectics of history were over. The United States would never have another worthy antagonist, who could challenge it, and that liberal democratic capitalistic ideas would become the norm and nothing viable could ever appear again beyond it. There are many ways that we can see some truth to this argument. Very few people would ever openly argue nowadays that democracy isn’t the best possible for of political government. Capitalism appears to be the happy norm, after all, who could openly argue against the making of money and spreading of wealth? Whereas technology seems to constantly shifting and changing, making previously unthinkable things feel very

Guaha na biahi mangguife yu' put i Korean Peninsula. Ti siguru yu' sa' hafa taiguigui i guinife-hu siha. Hu bisita i tano' Korea un biahi ha', gi 2010. Gi ayu na tiempo mampasehu ham yan otro na activists kontra fina'militat gi diferentes na lugat giya South Korea, put hemplo i Islan Jeju. Gi unu na puenge manmata'chong ham yan "reunification activists" para un sena giya Seoul. Ante di ayu, taya' maolek hiningok-hu put iya North Korea. Sigun i media gi sanlagu yan guini giya Guahan, i ma'gas i tano' gof kaduku yan i taotao guihi manmahokse'. Ayu na activists, ti ma chanda todu i hiningok-hu, lao ma na'lakabales i tiningo'-hu put i tano' Korea. Ma sangani yu' put taimanu na umadespatta i dos na patte. Sigun unu na bihu, ilek-na na i media gi sanlagu yan gi sanhaya mamparehu todu. Ma aguiguiyi i gayun-niha pulitikat. Ma sapotte yan ma hatsa i gobetnamenton-niha, achokka' gi ayu ti ma attette

Taya' fino'-hu put este na asunto'. Ti hongge'on i bidada-na este na palao'an Si Kim Davis.  Atan ha' este na articles siha ginen Si Allen Clifton, mas gaitiningo' gui' kinu Guahu pa'go. Atan lokkue' i memes siha put Si Kim Davis. Ai adai, sen dinanche, sen na'chalek. Mabuena. *************** A Message to Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis: You’re a Disgrace and a Hypocrite By Allen Clifton 9/2/15 Forward Progressives One of the most dominant stories of the last few days has been the continued refusal by Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling that bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional. Wait, a slight correction – she’s actually not issuing any marriage licenses, not even to straight couples. In other words, she’s not doing her job. If you ask me, I get the feeling this is just all one big scam. Normally this isn’t a story that