Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies

This article is based on an investigation of identity formations of a mixed-race mestisa/mestisu group from Guam, locally known as Chamaole, who are descendants of both native Chamorros and White Americans (haole). Using a hybrid research methodology, the author analyzes Chamaole encounters with ambiguity in interviews with three Chamaole authors and poets: Jessica Perez-Jackson (“Half Caste”), Lehua M. Taitano (excerpts from A Bell Made of Stones), and Corey Santos (“Chamaoli”). An analysis of their works and their interviews reveals patterns of cultural, genealogical, racial, linguistic, and political conflicts between Chamorros and White Americans since the US occupation of Guam. The article articulates how Chamaoles overcome race-based prejudices, celebrate Chamorro resistance, and reckon with White supremacy, showing that tensions resulting from US colonialism in Guam are magnified in Chamaole experiences. Applying a Pacific studies model of abundance, it illustrates that Chamaoles embody a repository of genealogical kåna in which each ancestral line adds power to their lived experiences and offers legitimacy to their Chamorro belonging. Chamaoles are Indigenous Chamorro people; if they claim their genealogy and their families/communities claim them, they belong to the Chamorro community. This Pacific studies model of abundance directly challenges racist, White supremacist, anti-Indigenous deficit models of blood quantum and fractional composition.