Friday, October 21, 2022 | 12pm to 1pm
Online Talk
The first part of this talk’s title is a play on Guam’s unofficial motto, which describes it as “Where America’s Day Begins.” This motto simultaneously emphasizes Guam’s status as an unincorporated territory of the United States, as well as its geographic distance from the continental U.S. on the other side of the International Date Line. If Guam is where America’s day “begins,” then mainland America’s day ends in California, which also has, according to the 2010 census, the largest percentage of CHamorus (the Indigenous people of Guam) in the mainland United States.
Prof. Francisco Delgado’s current project examines how CHamoru poets reimagine the landscape of California as an extension of their home island. In particular, through a careful reading of works by CHamoru poets like Clarissa Mendiola and Lehua Taitano, both of whom are currently based out of California, he argues that the nature of CHamoru identity and community is as fluid and vast as the Pacific Ocean itself. Instead of foregrounding the geographical barriers between Guam and the continental United States, Mendiola and Taitano utilize land- and water-based metaphors to enact a decolonial poetics that illustrates the interconnectedness of CHamoru communities on the island and off. Feelings of home and belonging do not end at a boundary, whether at a national or state boundary line or at the International Date Line. Rather, the poetry of the CHamoru diaspora illustrates a sense of belonging that continuously flows back and forth like ocean currents, linking the island of Guam to California, and elsewhere throughout the continental United States. Taitano’s and Mendiola’s decolonial poetics ultimately negate efforts to estrange members of the community from one another and from themselves.
Asian American / Asian Studies across CUNY Brown Bag Series
Sponsored by the CUNY Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI) Grant
