Chenchule’: A System of Receiving
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Interpretative essay: Reciprocity layered with cultural meanings
Gifting, in its many forms, is part of many cultural traditions across the Pacific. It can mean the sharing of food or song, home or heart. Generously opening up and sharing our islands and villages is a common experience in many parts of Oceania. Indeed, it can be seen even in our very first contact with the West when the Chamorro people provided food and drink to Ferdinand Magellan and his starving crew in 1521.
Hospitality has become one of the main ways that the Pacific is represented and viewed by many people. Pacific literary scholar Paul Lyons called these representations the “master trope” of Oceania. These dominant representations paint Pacific Islands as warm and enticing places, practically inviting their invasion whether by troops or missionaries or tourists. In this way of thinking, Pacific Islanders are represented as welcoming and hospitable, waving their hands and singing their songs to greet newcomers of all kinds.
Yet these acts of so-called giving, core to Pacific people’s established hospitality, are complicated and layered with cultural meanings and significance. Even the simple act of sharing food is not so simple after all. These acts of giving are part of a reciprocity system known in Chamorro as chenchule’.
Reciprocity systems can be found throughout the Pacific. Eminent Tongan scholar Epeli Hau’ofa highlights the ancient practice of reciprocity as the core of all Oceanic cultures. Likewise, prominent scholar of Micronesian history and cultures, Fr. Francis X. Hezel, identifies reciprocity as a strong part of social and cultural traditions and practices throughout Micronesia.
Chenchule’ as giving
To many Chamorro people, chenchule’ is often understood as a system of giving.
The gifts of chenchule’ are given based on an obligation that both individual people and families have to others, especially in times of need.
The 1975 Chamorro dictionary by Donald Topping, Pedro Ogo, and Bernadita Dungca defines chenchule’ as a “gift” or a “thing that is given away,” while the 2009 dictionary published by the Department of Chamorro Affairs expresses it as the “contributions or assistance given to extended families and friends to pay the expenses of familia events such as weddings, christenings, confirmations, funeral[s] and rosaries.” This 2009 dictionary further elaborates that “being present at the event, expressing support and helping out” are forms of chenchule’.
Chamorro scholar Lilli Perez Lyechad provides a definitive guide to chenchule’ in her book on helping practices among the Chamorros of Guam. Here, she defines it as the action of giving a gift or donation to assist in an event, especially associated with births, marriages, and deaths. Her research identifies chenchule’ as the core of Chamorro cultural practice.
Chenchule’ as receiving
Yet, while chenchule’ is typically understood as a system of giving, it is worthwhile to think of it instead as a system of receiving. In fact, it can be argued that the weight of the chenchule’ system actually rests in the act of receiving. When a person receives a gift or form of support that has been offered to them by another, it creates the cultural obligation to reciprocate.
For example, after funerals, Chamorros keep lists of those who gave them money or other forms of support. The keeping of chenchule’ lists has been documented in historical accounts for more than a century. An account from the early 1900s by German administrator of the Northern Marianas, Georg Fritz, describes that each contribution to a family was carefully recorded so that it could later be returned. American anthropologist Laura Thompson likewise observed in 1938 the written documentation of chenchule’ contributions by Chamorro families.
By contrast, in the Chamorro cultural framework, families do not keep lists of people to whom they have given gifts. Rather, they keep “received lists,” lists of people from whom they have accepted gifts. It is the acceptance of gifts that triggers the obligation to reciprocate.
The word chule’ in chenchule’ is itself revealing. Chule’ means both to give or to take. One has to follow context clues to know what is precisely meant. Chule’ este could mean either “give this,” as in, “take this over there and give it to them.” Or it can mean, “take this, it’s for you.” What does it tell us that the same word means both give and take? It suggests that giving and receiving are two parts of the same process. Giving is not a one-way street, not simply an act of benevolence. Yet most of the scholarly attention regarding chenchule’ is placed on the act of giving with relatively little critical attention paid to the receiving end of the equation.
To further illuminate this idea, consider a Chamorro proverb shared in Laura Souder’s powerful 1994 article, “Psyche Under Siege.” The proverb reads:
Maolek-ña man gagao ya ti manae ki manae ya ti un chule’.
It is better to ask and not be given than to be given and not to accept.
Deciphering this proverb teaches us that, in the Chamorrro mental universe, it is better to face rejection after asking for something, rather than to turn down a gift.
The first part of the proverb alerts us to the complexity of rejection. To ask for something and be rejected can mean many things. It could mean that the person asked for something that was not deserved. It could also mean that it was something that the person being asked couldn’t afford to give or didn’t have the authority to give. It also points to the complexities of asking — was the request appropriate, logical, and feasible? Was the request respectfully made — mindful of social positioning and careful to acknowledge boundaries of gender, class, and age?
Yet the second part of the proverb teaches us that it’s actually worse to reject someone’s gift, because saying no to a gift can trigger a delicate situation. It can cause hurt feelings — feelings of rejection. It can cause some to become offended or angry. It can be contentious, because to decline a gift is to snip the strings of chenchule’. On a deeper level, it means that you have declined the opportunity for a social connection with this person. By rejecting the gift, you have rejected the possible linkages and interrelationships of the reciprocity system.
As the proverb thus implies, accepting gifts is an important part of social responsibility. Taking from another person acknowledges your interdependence and your responsibilities to one another. When we take from someone, we acknowledge our part in a reciprocal relationship that might date back to a time long forgotten. Indeed, all of that deep family history is kept alive in the taking.
Chenchule’ thus are neither simply gifts nor debts to be repaid. Every time we receive chenchule’ today, it is a result of actions from perhaps many years ago—generous acts of those now deceased yet kept alive through continued reciprocal networks. In these ways, the innumerable gifts of our ancestors continue to bear fruit so that the circles and cycles of our relationships remain vibrant, decade after decade, generation after generation. Gifts of chalakiles, corn soup, and empanada become more than vessels of calories, carbohydrates, and protein. Rather, they become vehicles of a social order in which we rely upon one another, nourish one another, reach out and help one another – and this system becomes activated the moment that one accepts the gift. Accepting a gift is, so to speak, the “superglue” of social harmony.
For further reading
Fritz, Georg. The Chamorro: A History and Ethnography of the Mariana Islands. Translated by Elfriede Craddock. MARC Working Papers no. 45. Mangilao: Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam, 1984.
Hattori, Anne Perez. “A Take on Taking: Unwrapping the Complexities of Oceanic Gifting in the Chamorro Context.” Keynote speech, 23rd Pacific History Association Conference, London, England, 2018.
Hau‘ofa, Epeli. “Our Sea of Islands.” In A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands. Edited by Eric Waddell, Vijay Naidu, and Epeli Hau‘ofa. Suva, Fiji: School of Social and Economic Development, University of South Pacific, 1993.
Hezel, Francis X., SJ. Making Sense of Micronesia: The Logic of Pacific Island Culture. Honolulu, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013.
Lyechad, Lili Perez. An historical perspective of helping practices associated with birth, marriage, and death among Chamorros in Guam. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001.
Souder, Laura M. Torres. “Psyche under siege: Uncle Sam, look what you’ve done to us.” In Sustainable development or malignant growth?: Perspectives of Pacific island women. Edited by ‘Atu Emberson-Bain. Fiji: Marama Publications, 1994.
The official Chamorro-English dictionary = ufisiat na diksionárion Chamorro-Engles. Hagåtña: Department of Chamorro Affairs, 2009.
Thompson, Laura M. Guam and Its People. With a Village Journal by Jesus C. Barcinas. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1947.
Topping, Donald M., Pedro M. Ogo, and Bernadita C. Dungca. Chamorro-English Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1975.