Community and Identity as Resistance

Social identity is an important part of Micronesian culture. Understanding oneself as a member of a larger social group is valued and preferred over individual accomplishments. The family unit lies at the center of social identity and matrilineal connections. For Micronesians living in the US, social groups often provide the connections that maintain these strong family ties. By protecting and sustaining their identity through cultural practices, Micronesians in the US also stand ground against the broader public that may not know who they are and do not consider them Americans.

Still, the US Census and other population surveys do not provide Pacific Islanders with their own distinct identity group. Instead, they are included within the broad category of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), which makes it difficult to understand the population data about the unique cultural identities of Micronesians, where they are living within the US, and the resources they lack. Several ways of preserving cultural identity and community practice have aided Micronesians residing in the US.

Micronesian matrilineage tradition means women are the contributors to oral traditions and other Indigenous histories, providing strong ties between ancestors and future generations. Yet, the long lived experience with colonialism has imposed a western patriarchal system that disrupts the matrilineal society within Micronesian cultures in the US especially. Maintaining ancestral and matrilineal connections, therefore, is also a form of resistance, as it challenges a dominant society’s values of an individual or group’s identity.

Cultural practices through local groups and community-based organizations have helped Micronesians adjust to the categorical erasures and nonrecognition in the US. Micronesian populations in California, for example, sustain their culture and identity as Micronesians while living in the US. Marshallese people moved in large concentrations to Orange County, California, from the 1970s to 1990s. They now make up one of the larger groups of Micronesians in California.

Since 1986, an estimated thirty thousand Marshallese Islanders have immigrated to the US. As a result of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) agreement between the US and the Marshall Islands, migration pathways became available. The Marshallese began to leave for employment, education opportunities, or to escape climate events or poor healthcare. The Marshallese were directly impacted by the US government’s nuclear testing programs in the Marshall Islands that led to a life-long debilitating health crisis for those affected by the military exercises. Health problems were also linked to the US government’s violent program of nuclear testing within the Marshall Islands, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, with effects lasting across generations to present day.

In the twenty-first century, yet another example of identity as resistance is demonstrated by the Marshallese Youth Organizing Communities (MYOC) in Orange County, California. Founded in 2008, the MYOC is dedicated to advancing culture, education, and health among Marshallese immigrants. Their work to sustain cultural identity and future generations of community leaders provides another example of community advocacy and cultural resistance.

In Springdale, Arkansas, the Marshallese Resource and Education Center (MREC) is a one-stop resource that directly serves Marshallese residents. It is part of the larger Marshallese Educational Initiative (MEI) that helps the population maintain their cultural identity. MEI’s activities and humanities based programming empowers elders and youth to share their Marshallese culture through traditional arts, music, history, and a combined focus on threats of nuclear testing and climate change.

The “Songs of the Atoll Project” helps Marshallese youth maintain close connection with their elders to maintain traditional ways of being and doing while living in diaspora. And the “Marshallese Oral History Project & Digital Music Archive” creates a living archive by collecting songs and personal memories of Marshallese residents, which also connects their identity and stories with global events and justice issues.

Festivals can also serve as a form of expressing identity. Since 2014 in Honolulu, the Celebrate Micronesia Festival has showcased traditional and contemporary art, dance, food, stories, poetry, and music of the peoples with ancestral ties to Micronesia. This festival features live performances and cultural booths to educate and increase awareness about the wide diversity of languages and cultures of Micronesia. It also spotlights groups such as the Marshallese Weaving Woode Jippel that travel to attend the festival and demonstrate their efforts to revive the weaving traditions that have existed for thousands of years. The Remathau Community of Hawaiʻi focuses on justice to address food insecurity and provide community connections among the populations from FSM that currently live in the Hawaiian Islands.

Similarly, the CHamoru Cultural Festival is an annual event in San Diego county, California, that showcases the Indigenous culture of the Mariana Islands. It features seafaring, weaving, and education about political status held in San Diego since 2010. The Micronesian Festival at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, is another event that spreads cultural awareness through performances and traditional cultural sharing about the islands.