Guam, Where America’s Colonization Begins: Cultural Heritage, Identity and the Perception of the Chamorros

Abstract

The Pacific island of Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States of America. With a non-voting Congress member and citizens who may not vote for a president the self-governance of Guam is strongly impaired. The consequence of the impaired political state in which Guam finds itself is an imperialistic glocalization of their culture. The Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam, see a clear American influence regarding their cultural heritage and they have contradicting thoughts about its impact. On one hand the Chamorros see a decline in their cultural heritage because of the presence of the United States. On the other hand they also see the positive side of it in terms of technological progress, imported goods, et cetera. Although they see a positive side the Chamorro cultural heritage is contested and this influences the identification processes of the Chamorros negatively.