#chamorro

[uwmspeccoll]

National Poetry Month: Craig Santos Perez

Craig Santos Perez (b. 1980) is a Chamorro writer; born in Guam, his family moved to California when he was fifteen. The poems highlighted here are from his 2017 collection from Unincorporated Territory [lukao] published in Oakland by Omnidawn. This is the fourth title in his continuing unincorporated territory series and continues Santos Perez's exploration of Chamorro language, culture, diaspora, as well as the legacy of the U.S. Military bases on Guam. In 2023, the fifth book in the series, [åmot], won the National Book Award for Poetry.

[lukao] – procession – weaves poems centering his wife and the birth of their daughter with, “other processions, including extinction, military buildups, environmental degradation, climate change, violence, and death.” Santos Perez revisits motifs from the first three volumes of the series – including the legends of juan malo, and an endless, ecstatic consideration of SPAM:

My food philosophy / is simple: I eat therefore I SPAM. The name itself stands for: / Specially Processed Army Meal, Sacred Pork And Medicine, / Super Pink Artificial Meat, Snake Pigeon And Mongoose, or / Some Pigs Are Missing.

Santos Perez layers humor, lyricism, personal narrative, social-media-speak, history, myth, Chomorro language, maps, and rhythm to illuminate a complex and rich heritage of Guam, while providing a frank assessment of colonization and militarization.  

Watch Santos Perez perform SPAM's Carbon Footprint at a festival in 2016.

See other National Poetry Month posts!

--Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[folkfashion]

Chamorro dancers, from Guam, Imåhen Taotao Tåno

[m1kuhoneym1lktea]

miku from guam -- i drew her a while ago but never posted!!

[crybabyjellyfish]

Tried a cortado for the first time 💛

Mental rambles: the urge I have to get back i to mandarin by working on translations for my own fun and games!!! But also? I wanna learn CHamorro, my people's native language that's been having an uptick with people tryna revive it from being a dead language.

Idk if CHamorro notes for a langblr would be doable consistently, but it sounds fun

[scribble-sketches]

Wip of Chamorro miku

[bemorechiill]

be more pacific islander 😈☝️

[sumahi]

Puntan Dos Amåntes, Two Lover's Point

Tumon, Guam

1966

[humanrightsupdates]

Guam’s Indigenous Groups Challenge US Militarization, Colonization

US Should Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Chamorro Human Rights

Since the US seized control of Guam during World War II, its military has turned the Pacific island into a fortress, destroying cultural sites, food sources, and limestone forests that contain medicinal plants used by the Indigenous Chamorro people.

But on October 14, a Chamorro-led advocacy group, Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian (Prutehi), submitted a complaint to the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, alleging various human rights violations committed by the US government against the Chamorro people.

The complaint details the ongoing US colonization of Guam, one of the last formally recognized colonies in the world. It describes impacts of US military expansion on the island, including destruction or endangerment of sacred sites, critical habitat, and the island’s freshwater source, all of which harm environmental and human health.

The US is the colonial administrator of the territory and is obligated under international law to uphold the right to self-determination of the people of Guam. Despite being US citizens, Chamorro people have no meaningful representation within the US political system as colonial subjects: they have no representation in Congress and no right to vote in US presidential elections.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Musicians from the Chamorro Tribe, Mariana Islands

Japanese vintage postcard

[yoooming]

[theheartkinggg]

[wankohouse]

A Brief, 500-Year History of Guam At the Smithsonian|

[zanygardenherowobbler]

ROSE MARTINEZ - Esta Yu Maniente 🇬🇺 REACTION

[island-peach]

[chamoru-culture-is]

CHamoru culture is eating, drinking, fornicating, going for walks, and revenging injustices.

[sumahi]

My family and I made a Chamoru language flash card set for the birds from the Marianas. Many of the native birds are no longer found in Guam and in the wild (such as this one the sihek) and so this is an important way we can pass on knowledge of the animals and their importance to our people.