Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5558-5961

Graduation Year

2021

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Reader 1

Alfred Peredo Flores

Reader 2

Tomas Summers Sandoval Jr.

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

2021 Gabrielle L Lupola

Abstract

This is not a traditional thesis of the Pomona College History Department. Spanning over a century from start to finish, this work tracks the history of Guam’s political status from 1898 to 2021. To support such a lengthy timeline, snapshots of key events and trends are recounted each chapter. Chapter 1 focuses on the Spanish-American War and the local struggle for acting governorship. Chapter 2 documents the impact of World War II, the Organic Act of Guam, modernization and early Chamorro activism on island. Chapter 3 depicts the evolution of late 20th century Chamorro activism through a model of compare and contrast between two prominent organizations: the Organization of People for Indigenous Rights (OPI-R) and Nasion Chamoru. The epilogue serves to round up this thesis in summary as well as noting the current work being done by Chamorro activists in the 21st century, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to laying out what happened in Washington D.C. and in the Guam Legislature, the primary route of political progress is that of grassroots activism and local organizations formed by Chamorros, the Native people of Guam and the rest of the Mariana Islands archipelago. In addition to archival research and oral history interviews, this project is also interdisciplinary due to heavy influence outside the formal structure of history. Utilizing theories from Pacific Island(er) Studies and Indigenous Studies, this thesis troubles Western constructions of time and serves to conceptualize not only the past, but our present and future as well.

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