Diversity: Guam and Island Essay

Submitted By ardenb2000
Words: 804
Pages: 4
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Diversity Project
1) Intro into the Cultural Group
The group that I chose to research was the Chamorros from the island of Guam. In the investigation into the people of this small group of islands, The Marina islands as they were once called, were settled in the early BC period. Chamorro comes from the native word “chamorri” or “chamoli” which means “noble” indicative that the adjective “Chamorro” means “to have the head shaved or to be bald.”
The main topic in the article was the findings of Paul Cox, an ethnobotanist , which is a person that’s studies the plant lore and agricultural customs of a people, (www.dictionary.com). Cox was researching the fatal neurological disorder that paralyzes the Chamarro people of Guam. In 2002, Cox suggested the people on the island contracted the disease from fruit bats, a culinary delight on the island. The scientists came up with the fruit bats were acquiring the toxins from eating the seeds of the cycads, squat, and palm like plants.
This was an interesting group to research because the islanders resemble people of Asian nationality and I was curious to know what they referred to their culture in their own native language. In the prior paragraph it discusses the origin of the Chamarro people but they also came from the island of Malaysia, which is where the current languages and cultures of today

2) Interviewee Description and Interview Responses

Interviewee Description
Janice Marie Fernandez Lianada Pfieffer, this is the name of the individual that I interviewed for my project on diversity. She is a native of the island of Guam, born and raised on the island, educated in a Guam school, not a DOD school, which is located throughout the island due to the presence of the military. Mrs Pfieffer’s mother was born and raised on the island; her father was born in the Philippians and moved to Guam at the age of 20. She is married to an American serviceman and now resides in Virginia Beach Virginia with her husband and teenager daughter. This was an interesting concept once she explained it to me, I questioned Janice about her long name and she stated to me the US territory of Guam, when a child is born the child has two first names. The mother’s maiden name and the fathers last name, which makes up the first name in addition to their own first name, then their last name and a married name if it applies. It keeps the tradition of the name alive and the culture of the people. I also asked her about the research I found on the fruit bats and that is was causing the people on the island to contract fatal neurological diseases. She stated that now the people on the island have depleted the fruit bats and it is illegal to eat the much desired delicacy now, so no bat meat for anyone any more.

Interviewee Responses
a. The importance of being in this group dictates everything that happens in her everyday life. It can be as small as the cooking, food consumption to child rearing and how to deal
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