Women in Chamorro history 

The importance of women in Chamorro history is well documented, and many Guampedia entries reinforce this point. We do not have to dig deeply into obscure records to find evidence of this. Our oral histories are rich with these accounts, beginning with creation. The female goddess Fu’una worked alongside her brother, Puntan, to create the world. In the Chamorro creation account, women were not demoted to an after-thought, as if pulled out of a rib a day later. This is a matter of critical significance. In the Chamorro cosmology, from the moment of creation, men and women worked together. 

Sirena and the power of Chamorro mothers 

Another example from our oral history concerns the Chamorro mermaid, Sirena.  The mermaid is a universal figure. Mermaid stories can be found since ancient times in maritime societies from England and Russia to India and Japan. Just about any place near water, even freshwater, has mermaid stories.  The word, Sirena, is a Spanish word, “el sirena,” deriving from Latin, “Siren,” which itself was derived from Greek, “Seiren.” The siren is a mermaid, but also a dangerous woman or a temptress. Mermaids in legends around the world are sexy, femme fatales who lure sailors with their enchanting singing. Even the Walt Disney version, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, contains an element of this seductiveness. 

Yet our Sirena story is a very different one. It is uniquely not about seduction. Our mermaid story is not about a voluptuous temptress. Ours is a story about respecting one’s mother, a story demonstrating the immense powers of motherhood. Sirena’s mother acts out the ancient Chamorro proverb roughly translated by Dr. Robert Underwood as, “I gave you birth, I can kill you.”  The figurative meaning of this proverb, and the moral of the Chamorro Sirena story, is to obey your mother…or else. The Chamorro Sirena story acknowledges the power of one’s mother. This speaks to a unique aspect of our culture and history – the idea that a woman can be, at the same time, an ordinary mother and an extraordinary powerhouse. 

Representations of Chamorro women in textbooks  

Chamorro women hold power in society and are worthy of historical attention. This important point was disregarded by Spaniards whose accounts for over 200 years failed to mention a single female chief, or maga’haga, by name. Yet not only are the Spanish to blame. Indeed, none of our modern textbooks convey the message of female importance. The 1964 classic, A Complete History of Guam, names only one woman in the entire book, and she isn’t even Chamorro. In Guam’s first published textbook, Carano and Sanchez identify only Queen Mariana de Austria as a woman worthy of historical attention, compared to 88 men. 

The most current text, the 2nd edition of Destiny’s Landfall by Robert Rogers, came out in 2011. This book contains 167 men and 7 women (4% women), which is surprising given its recent publication.  Further surprising is that of the 7 women, only 2 are Chamorro – Katherine Aguon and Agueda Johnston. 

The issue of women’s invisibility in history is part of a bigger problem in the Pacific. This problem is the invisibility of most islanders, male or female, in history books. But after civil rights activism around the world in the 1970s spread to the Pacific, self-determination and decolonization movements grew. These political movements were accompanied by an intellectual activism, as well. Conservative, Eurocentric histories that focus attention on white men and islanders of high rank have been the subject of debate around the region. The call has been for “Islander-Centered” histories. These histories not only focus on islanders but are told from the indigenous perspective. 

Indigenous perspectives on history  

For our part here, beginning in 1992, the Government of Guam created and funded the Hale’-ta project.  The Hale’-ta series was self-consciously created to be an islander-centered. The whole goal of the series was to re-tell Guam’s history from the Chamorro perspective. Yet even the Hale’-ta books don’t do much better about including women in its pages. The primary textbook, for example, I Magobetna-ña Guam: Governing Guam: Before and After the Wars (1994), mentions only 10 women in the whole book, compared to 205 men. 

Thus even our most islander-centered books remain trapped in old patterns. Like the Western historical tradition, they largely exclude women’s contributions. One factor is that most islander-centered histories still focus on political and military history. These types of histories feature stories of kings, presidents, governors, and military leaders. In all these categories, women tend to be underrepresented. 

In recent years, some projects have begun bringing women into the historical limelight. These works are critically important in filling the historical silences. Yet many of the women featured in these projects still fit comfortably within the standards of conservative Eurocentric history. They continue to be the elites  – wealthy, powerful, and educated. While bringing elite women into the historical spotlight does open doors for more female names in the books, it does not significantly change the historical, male-dominated canon.   

A second tactic employed by some feminist scholars is more problematic. This strategy elevates Chamorro women above Chamorro men as the perpetuators and protectors of culture and language. In this argument, Chamorro women are the true movers and shakers of Guam. This often-repeated argument is problematic in several ways. In part, it inaccurately marginalizes men who also play important roles in their families and communities. The theory that women are the ones perpetuating culture implies that men do not. This theory is not fair or evidence based. It also suggests that women are engaged in a struggle over culture against men. For if women are the ones protecting the culture, then it must be the men who are harming it. This example challenges us to exercise caution when falling back on these clichés.  

Decolonizing our history  

To come to a deeper understanding of our history, researchers and writers must avoid either ignoring or exaggerating the roles of both men and women. Since ancient times, men and women worked together, cooperatively and interdependently, for the good of their family and clan. Sometimes women took leadership, and sometimes men did. And that’s part of the beauty of our history. Chamorro men and women worked together to deal with the challenges of a new religion, a new capitalist economy, new forms of government, and encroaching western value systems.  

While the 1970s called for Islander-Centered histories, current trends call for decolonizing our history. Decolonizing history should mean going beyond the old stories of society’s elites, both indigenous and non-indigenous. Decolonizing history should mean appreciating the joint struggles of both men and women. It calls for identifying the sometimes ordinary people doing extraordinary things to serve their families, villages, and communities. It means capturing the laughter and songs, as well as the disputes and debates, that are part of our history.  

Editor’s note: Parts of this essay were published previously as Anne Perez Hattori, “Textbook tells: gender, race, and decolonizing Guam history textbooks in the 21st century AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Vol. 14(2), 2018, 173–184. 

By Anne Perez Hattori, PhD

For further reading

Camacho, Olympia Q. Legends of Guam. Hagåtña, Guam: Government of Guam Department of Education, 1986. 

Carano, Paul & Sanchez, Pedro C. A complete history of Guam. Rutland, VT: C. E. Tuttle, 1964.  

Hattori, Anne P. “Textbook tells: gender, race, and decolonizing Guam history textbooks in the 21st century.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Vol. 14:2 (2018): 173–184. 

 Political Status Education Coordinating Commission (PSECC). Hale’ta: I ma gobetna-ña Guam: Governing Guam, before and after the wars. Hagåtña, GU: PSECC, 1994. 

Rogers, Robert F. Destiny’s landfall: A history of Guam, revised second edition.  Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2011.  

Sanchez, Pedro C. Guahan Guam: The history of our island. Hagåtña, GU: Sanchez Publishing House, 1989.  

Underwood, Robert A. (n.d.). “Hispanicization as a socio-historical process on Guam.” Manuscript Collection, Mangilao, GU: Micronesian Area Research Center.