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CHamoru Cultural Values Workshop
Summary Workshop Report epublication. In May-June 2016, Guam is hosting the Festival of the Pacific Arts (FestPac), a region-wide festival celebrating the various arts and cultures of the Pacific. FestPac 2016 will showcase traditional performances, arts and craft displays and demonstrations, music and story-telling. Hosting the Pacific wide festival represents an important and exciting opportunity to highlight cultural identity and heritage among a diverse group of Pacific islanders, many of whom share a colonial past and have felt its impact on traditional practices and lifestyles.
POP Cultures: Guam
Guam, the largest and southernmost island of the Mariana Islands chain, has a unique and complex cultural history. In the Western Pacific in Micronesia, Guam is well known for its strategic military and economic position between Asia and the North American continent. The Marianas are home to one of the oldest Pacific Island cultures. Archeological evidence indicates that the Marianas Islands were one of the first places to be settled by seafaring peoples, possibly from Island Southeast Asia, more than 4,000 years ago. Marianas prehistory is divided into two broad periods: the Pre-Latte Era (about 4,000 years ago to about 900-1000 AD) and the Latte Era (900-1000 AD to 1668 AD).
POP Cultures: Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna is an Overseas Territory of France in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast. The islands’ land area is 142.42 sq km (54.99 sq mi). Mata-Utu is the capital and biggest city. The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands and a number of tiny islets. It is split into two island groups that lie about 260 km (160 mi) apart, namely Wallis Islands (Uvea) in the northeast, and Hoorn Islands (also called the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island.
POP Cultures: Tuvalu
Tuvalu consists of nine low lying atolls in the South Pacific located midway between Hawai`i and Australia. It is comprised of three reef islands and six atolls. Its nearest neighbors are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. The total land area of the islands of Tuvalu is 26 sq km (10 sq mi).
POP Cultures: Tokelau
Tokelau consists of three tropical coral atolls (from the northwest, Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo), as well as Swains Island, which is governed as part of American Samoa, with a combined land area of 4 sq mi. Its capital rotates yearly between the three atolls. Tokelau lies north of the Samoan Islands, Swains Island being the nearest, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands, and northwest of the Cook Islands.
POP Cultures: Samoa
Samoa includes nine inhabited islands on top of a submarine mountain range. The largest islands are Savai’i at 703 sq mi (1820 sq km) and Upolu at 430 sq mi (1114 sq km), on which the capital, Apia, is located. The capital and port were developed around Apia Bay and the 13 villages that surround it.
POP Cultures: Pitcairn Island
Pitcairn is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the last British Overseas Territory in the Pacific. The four islands – Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno – are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 47 sq km (18 sq mi). Only Pitcairn, the second largest island measuring about 3.6 km (2.2 mi) from east to west, is inhabited. The islands’ administrative headquarters are situated in Auckland, New Zealand.
POP Cultures: Norfolk Island
Originally, Norfolk was settled (perhaps only seasonally) by East Polynesians some 1,000 years ago. The fact that no human remains from this period have ever come to light may indicate that the people came and went without permanently settling on Norfolk.
POP Cultures: Niue
Niue, off the coast of Tonga, is one of the world’s largest coral islands. With a landmass of 259 sq km, it lies about 2,400 km northeast of New Zealand. The terrain consists of steep limestone cliffs along the coast with a central plateau rising to about 60 meters (180 feet) above sea level. A coral reef surrounds the island, with the only major break in the reef being in the central western coast, close to the capital, Alofi. A notable feature is the number of limestone caves found close to the coast.
POP Cultures: New Zealand (Maori)
Before World War II, most Māori lived with other members of their tribes in rural areas of New Zealand. During the 1940s, many young Māori not eligible for military service worked in industries in the cities. From the 1950s, there was a growing demand for labor in the cities, and by 2013, 84% of Māori were living in towns or cities. Most headed to the cities in search of work, but they were also hoping for money, fun and adventure. Initially, some Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) resisted the migration of Māori, but over time, friendships developed and intermarriage increased. The government encouraged Māori to leave rural areas, and to adapt to European society. By the 1960s, there was a generation of young Māori who had been born in the cities. Many did not know about their tribal roots.