Lehua M. Taitano, a queer CHamoru poet and artist, uses her poetry to highlight the diasporic struggles and internal reflections that CHamorus experience living in the continental United States. Similar to Lehua’s sentiment, the chapter author often reflects on their diasporic CHamoru identity and the “inbetween-ness” felt being born and raised in the continental US, in contrast to their mother and grandmother who moved from the Mariana Islands. As a child, they remember trying to make sense of their experiences in a multi-generational household run by CHamoru women alongside the realities of growing up in California.

This module is about how artistic expression and creative practice have been an important part of life for Pacific Islanders in the past and, continue to be, for our communities today.

The arts are vital to diasporic CHamorus, serving as powerful vessels for exploring cultural heritage, identity, and connection. Their arts are not merely decorative but integral to preserving oral traditions, languages, and histories through dynamic forms like dance, music, weaving, and tattooing. These artistic expressions foster social cohesion by bringing people together in communal practices and celebrations, reinforcing spiritual ties to the land, ocean, and ancestors, and ensuring the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and values that define diverse Pacific cultures. While their creative expressions change over time, diasporic CHamorus use these practices to explore the complex lived experiences of being away from the Mariana Islands.