Towards Culturally-Conscious Archival Praxis (C-Cap) & ACTION: Seeking Indigenous Inclusivity Within Archival Infrastructures On Guam

Abstract

Guam’s complex colonial history combined with its imperial existence in the present, continues to dictate how island inhabitants have been remembered in the historic records, represented in geo-political venues globally, and excluded from aspects of governance and sovereign representation. Pederson (2005) contends that archives, recordkeeping, and knowledge transference provides the intellectual infrastructure that underpins all human endeavors. However, current archival and information repositories, documentation systems and infrastructures as well as archival education programs have failed to adequately serve and make space for the social and historical needs, worldviews, cultural rights, and voice of the Indigenous CHamoru communities living both on and off the island of Guam. This research sought to better understand the way in which archival repositories and cultural heritage institutions reflect and make space for Indigenous recordkeeping infrastructures and records of memory within this region of the Pacific. The data revealed that like many other colonially constructed archives and repositories that have mandates to collect records of Indigenous or underrepresented populations, the scope, infrastructure, and protocols still largely reflects that of Eurocentric or Western archival systems established under custodial frameworks. This study identified major gaps tied to access and representation and proposes the implementation of a framework and ACTION Plan, created in an effort to address and mitigate these issues from a social justice perspective. This study also uncovered gaps related to archival education programming relevant to this region of the Pacific. Broader impacts of this study could help to advance collaborative partnerships between Indigenous cultural knowledge keepers and institutional organizations. In addition, this research has the potential to greatly benefit Indigenous populations, as they seek to identify avenues for narratives, perspectives, practices, and non-textual modes of transmission to be included in the historic record through culturally-conscious archival praxis and ACTION.