Chamoru Uncertainty: Revitalization Rhetoric in Decolonial Settings

Curtis J Jewell, Purdue University

Abstract

Globalization asserts increasing pressure on marginalized cultures and languages. While faced with the pragmatic, often economic, need to communicate via global languages such as English and Chinese, communities of non-dominant language users struggle to maintain or reestablish their own cultural and linguistic practices. This thesis considers three areas of theory to further inquiry into how revitalization contexts may operate within an increasingly borderless world. The specific focus is the CHamoru/Chamorro revitalization context on Guåhan /Guam. First, readers enter the discussion through the conduit of narrative theory which focuses on how legends spanning generations may lend insight into how the dispositions of local inhabitants developed. Second, affect theory is considered to illustrate how narratives are constructed about the future through fear and anxiety. Third, revitalization rhetoric and the emergent theory of translingualism are addressed as they lie at the intersection of narratives about the past and future. The thesis works to initiate conversations between theories which previously worked apart from one another in a context infrequently considered in an effort to establish a foundation for future research and activism on the the island of Guåhan.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Denny, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Rhetoric and Composition|Language|International Relations|Aging|Communication|Gerontology

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