Mariana Islands Wartime Experiences through Oral Histories

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Pacific Theatre True History – filling the gap of local indigenous perspectives of WWII

For the Mariana Islands Wartime Experiences through Oral Histories fellowship, Dr. Jennifer Craig worked with partners at Guampedia who recognize the coexistence of spirit and living to conduct a reciprocal process of curation on content for public consumption and embrace fatoigue taotaomo’ma (places and people visited by ancestral spirits). The fellowship aims to connect ancestors with descendants by engaging in inåfa’maolek para mo’na mañatatti (restoring harmony/balance moving forward or for future generations). Specifically, the project connects ancestor to descendent by sharing oral histories long forgotten in the National Park Services collection — by digitizing the videos and audio to make them accessible. Additionally, the progress project is shared in regular community gatherings.

From the National Park Service perspective, Dr. Craig’s fellowship has provided the opportunity to do work that is long overdue, but that the parks have not had the capacity to address adequately. “Through the work of Dr. Jennifer Craig, we have been able to better understand the wealth of resources we have and can now begin the process of finding appropriate and thoughtful ways to make them accessible to the communities they came from and beyond. In addition, the fellowship has fostered a deeper partnership with Guampedia that we look forward to growing in years to come.

Through the fellowship, we have been able to develop an inclusive approach to making accessible oral histories that have been sitting for nearly 40 years. The Fellow has worked with NPS, partners, and families to ensure this is done in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner throughout the layers and partnerships. Critical to this has been empathy for the stories, those sharing the stories, the people working with these traumatic war memories and our communities,” the National Park service stated.

Dr. Craig’s work expands collections-based research with heart-centered archaeology and relational practices. In her work, Dr. Craig poses and answers scholarly questions by excavating archaeological collections. Dr. Craig excavates the contents of boxes and old catalogs found deep in repositories, with associates (both living and haunting). Repositories are generated over a period of decades by academic institutions, government agencies, museums, volunteer organizations, and cultural resource management firms. Dr. Craig aims to bring heart-centered archaeology practices to material culture and outreach to peoples with relations.

Marianas Storytelling, Guam Museum

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Back to Sumai/Sumay

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Marianas Storytelling, American Memorial Park

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By Dr. Jennifer Craig and Guampedia Staff

For further reading

King, Julia A. “Collections-Based vs. Field-Based Research: A Need for Dialogue.” Society for Historical Archaeology Collections and Curation Committee, 22 December 2014. https://sha.org/collections-based-vs-field-based-research-a-need-for-dialogue/2014/12/.

Supernant, Kisha. “Learning to Be a Good Relation: Enacting Wahkohtowin and Keeoukaywin Through Métis Archaeology.” Panel presentation at Wahkohtowin Gathering, Prairie Relationality Network. Online event. Edmonton, Alberta, 2021.

Supernant, Kisha, Jane Eva Baxter, Natasha Lyons, and Sonya Atalay, eds. Archaeologies of the Heart. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2020. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36350-5.

Surface-Evans, Sarah, Amanda E. Garrison, and Kisha Supernant, eds. Blurring Timescapes, Subverting Erasure: Remembering Ghosts on the Margins of History. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781789207101.

Videos

More NPS materials

Digital Archive on NPGallery: https://npgallery.nps.gov/wapaamme
Voices of Guåhan (Guam) Oral History Tour: https://www.nps.gov/wapa/planyourvisit/voices-of-guahan.htm
History & Culture: https://www.nps.gov/wapa/learn/historyculture/index.htm