Since the 17th century, CHamorus have been heavily influenced by Spanish, Mexican, Filipino and American cultures, and as a result much from these cultures has been either borrowed or forced upon CHamorus.įor instance, if we look at something like CHamoru Catholicism everything from the practices to the language used seems to belong more to everyone else and there is little there which can be considered CHamoru. Because if we do this, we imply that the true culture is only found at that point, and therefore any changes to this culture, automatically make it inauthentic or “not real.”įor many who believe that CHamoru culture today isn’t “real,” believe this to be so because the practices and ideas we call CHamoru now aren’t really CHamoru, but borrowed from other cultures. But we can never pick a point in time and say that this point is the “true” form of said culture. We can compare changes, from certain points in time, and discuss how these changes have taken place and why. If cultures are always changing, then there is never any original point, or clear original image of it, from which we can judge how real a culture still is, or how far from its original form it has been taken. If this is true however, then it is also true that no culture is ever uniform or pure. We can see these in our lives, and in the history of all peoples attest to this fact as well. It is a truism, an obvious fact which no one can deny, that all cultures change. The CHamoru, after this point, seemed to disappear, subsumed within a hybrid mix, in which the Spanish or Filipino parts become dominant, and no one is sure what is or isn’t CHamoru anymore. At the end of this conflict, which has become known as the CHamoru-Spanish Wars, tens of thousands of CHamorus had been killed by war or disease, and thousands more had been forcibly relocated from their villages and islands into new settlements designed by the Spanish, where they were slowly forced to give up their way of life.Īfter this period, CHamorus became Catholics, intermarried with Filipinos, Spanish and Mexicans, adopted Spanish dress, dances, food and some language. The subsequent decades that followed were marked by resistance and open warfare between Spanish priests and soldiers and CHamorus of all the Mariana Islands. This period began with the establishment of a Catholic mission in Guam, whose aim was to convert the CHamoru people and civilize them. During this period, CHamorus underwent their most violent and drastic transformation in recent history. ![]() The most common explanation for this difference, this divide that separates CHamorus from their ancestors, is the colonization by the Spanish which began in the second half of the 17 th century. In some accounts of Guam history, writers make a distinction between CHamorus who lived four centuries ago, and those that live today, by marking contemporary CHamorus with the label “neo,” or “neo-CHamorus.” The CHamorus of long ago are simply CHamorus, but those of today, because of their complex and tragic history are “neo-CHamorus.” The implications of the term are clear, the real CHamorus were here prior to European contact and colonization, the ones we find today in Guam are mixed up, hybrid, impure, the “neo” meaning new in the sense of “not being real.” Because of this history, it is common today among everyday people and academics to remark that “there aren’t really any CHamorus anymore” or that “there really isn’t any CHamoru culture anymore.” Surprisingly enough, these statements can be heard from CHamorus just as often as non-CHamorus. The past four centuries of CHamoru history are not simple, but rather at times, incredibly complex and violent, full of colonialism, war and genocide. ![]() We would be hard pressed however, to find any culture which didn’t change drastically in some ways, over such a long period of time. There is little doubt that CHamorus today live very different lives than Chamorros/CHamorus did 400 years ago, and have different ideas about what is and isn’t CHamoru culture.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |