This is the final episode of Season 1, so we decided to make it a bit different than the others by highlighting portions of interviews from past episodes that didn’t make the final cut, but that we still want to share with you. Sometimes these clips provide more context or a cool anecdote for a topic we delved into in a prior episode. Or, in other cases, they offer greater insight into the personal development of the interviewee, or their emotional state at the time of the events in...

This is Part II of Episode 6, "Revival of Traditional Seafaring in the Marianas." Part I was released in late October 2021. Through interviews with master navigators and their students, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua discusses how, beginning in the 1980s, CHamorus began to relearn the ancient seafaring skills lost here to colonization — and how the revival of these traditions goes hand-in-hand with the CHamoru Renaissance and decolonization movement. Our anchor for this episode is Dr. Michael...

Through interviews with master navigators and their students, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua discusses how, beginning in the 1980s, CHamorus began to relearn the ancient seafaring skills lost here to colonization — and how the revival of these traditions goes hand-in-hand with the CHamoru Renaissance and decolonization movement. This is Part I of a two-part episode. Part II will be released in mid-November 2021. Our anchor for this episode is Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua. He's an historian and...

In recognition of Pride Month, Dr. Vivian Dames tells the story of Guam’s campaign for marriage equality through interviews with several people who played a role in the historic effort. They discuss how the movement gained momentum, the broader significance of the eventual legal victory, and current issues regarding LGBTQ rights and opportunities here. Dr. Dames is a retired professor of Social Work/Women & Gender Studies at the University of Guam with interest in community organizing,...

In our fourth episode, Congressman LJ Castro of Saipan discusses several key moments and debates from the Northern Mariana Islands’ self-determination process of the 1960s and ‘70s, including the Marianas Political Status Commission’s negotiations with the United States government to end the NMI’s status as a US-administered Trust Territory. Through the so-called “Covenant Agreement,” the Northern Marianas were ultimately able to establish the islands as a commonwealth of the United States...

In this episode, Dr. Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi discusses Guam’s role as the primary way station for South Vietnamese refugees in the chaotic months immediately following the end of the Vietnam War. April 2021 marks the 46th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon — and the beginning of the massive evacuation and resettlement effort known as Operation New Life. Dr. Gandhi is an assistant professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (Tovaangar). Her book,...

Happy Women’s History Month and Mes CHamoru! You’re listening to the 2nd episode of Memoirs Pasifika, a podcast series exploring events, movements, and people in modern Micronesian history. In our second episode, Dr. Vivian Dames tells the story of one CHamoru woman, Cecilia Cruz Bamba, who courageously took on the U.S. federal government on behalf of Guam’s World War II survivors and their descendants by championing the causes of compensation for Land Claims and War Reparations. Subscribe...

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Memoirs Pasifika, a podcast exploring events, movements, and people in modern Micronesian history. In this episode, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua tells the story of Governor Carlos Camacho’s eventful trip to Vietnam — at the height of the war — to visit Guam's battle-weary troops during Christmas. The trip unexpectedly helped shape Guam’s political history, launched a practice among politicians nationwide that continues up until today, and even inspired a