The Contemporary Pacific

The year ended on a high note in Guam, as the island had the honor of hosting the 12th Festival of Pacific Arts (FestPac), 22 May–4 June 2016. FestPac, sponsored by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, is often called “the cultural Olympics of the Pacific.” Close to thirty Island nations come together to share their arts and culture with each other and the rest of the world. More than 2,700 delegates made their way to Guam for the thirteen-day event, which showed the breadth of cultural diversity of the Pacific and the various ways in which Pacific peoples are perpetuating and reinvigorating their heritages.

FestPac experienced early logistical issues. At the opening ceremony, delegates were forced to stand for hours without adequate access to food and water, and problems with meal vouchers, transportation, and accommodations also marred the event (pdn, 23 May 2016). These issues were soon eclipsed by the momentousness of the occasion, as FestPac was filled with a multitude of activities including performances, cultural demonstrations, lectures, creative readings, academic conferences, and film screenings. The first-ever Indigenous Language Conference at FestPac offered presentations and networking opportunities for scholars and community activists across the Pacific who were seeking to revitalize or preserve their native languages (kuam, 27 May 2016).

The relationship between Chamorros and FestPac has sometimes been contentious. As Chamorros are the people of the Pacific who have experienced the longest history of [End Page 104] colonization, they are often perceived in the wider Pacific as having no culture. Decades of Chamorro participation in FestPac and exposure to those critiques of their cultural identity have pushed Chamorros to learn more about themselves as an indigenous people and to re-create certain traditional arts, most notably dancing (pdn, 23 April 2015). The cultural performance groups På'a Taotao Tåno' and I Fanlalai'an were both formed as attempts to reestablish Chamorro traditional dance or chant, and they seized on FestPac as their chance to showcase their culture to the rest of the Pacific.

Guam has been without a national museum for several decades, and it was hoped that one would be open in time for FestPac. Some facilities were finished and able to be used for FestPac activities, but the majority of the Guam Museum remains unfinished. Although it was originally scheduled for completion in 2014, delays due to mismanagement and weather pushed the projected completion date to spring 2017 (pdn, 31 March 2016). In May 2016, Governor Eddie Calvo signed an executive order naming the museum after the late Senator Antonio Manibusan Palomo, a Chamorro author and former director of the museum (gdp, 4 May 2016).

During the FestPac closing ceremony, a group of a dozen Guam delegates unfurled two banners emblazoned with the words “Decolonize Oceania” and “Free Guåhan.” Kisha Borja-Quichocho-Calvo, a professor at the University of Guam and one of the demonstrators, noted the statement was necessary “to demonstrate that FestPac is not just an event which highlights the beautiful cultural facets of our Pacific communities. . . . It is also an event which should remind us of the historical and political struggles of our people . . . and the beauty in our ability to survive hundreds of years of colonialism” (pdn, 9 June 2016). Five of the islands participating in FestPac are formally listed by the United Nations as “Non-Self-Governing-Territories,” and several others exist in neocolonial relationships without recognition (pdn, 18 July 2016).

While the demonstration was meant to provoke a response from the wider community of the Pacific, it was also aimed at Governor Calvo, who had, months before, taken an aggressive position on changing Guam’s political status but did not appear to be carrying out his stated goals. In March 2016, during his State of the Island Address, Calvo made the bold move of declaring his intention to hold a political status plebiscite in November. In this non-binding vote, the Chamorro people of Guam would select between free association, independence, and statehood for Guam’s future political status, and the results would be submitted to the US government. In his speech, he referred to nearly four hundred years of...