Territorial Discontent

This one-hundred-year history of the island of Guhan, also known as Guam, charts how Indigenous CHamorus and Filipinomigrantsnavigated and negotiated the expansion of US imperialism and militarism in the Pacific.Throughout the twentieth century, CHamorus and Filipinos living in Guhan expressed their discontent with the inequities created by the US empire. Instead of partaking in outright anticolonial movements, they advocated for liberal solutions such as individual rights, land ownership, economic opportunities, and UScitizenship. In Territorial Discontent, Kristin Oberiano unravels this entangled history and exposes the limitations of liberalism in anticolonial resistance.Tracing the long history of CHamoru-Filipino relations, from the exile of Filipino revolutionaries to Guhan to the burgeoning CHamoru self-determination movement, Territorial Discontent grapples with the varied motives that propelled CHamorus and Filipinos to rely on the limited liberal promise of freedom. Oberiano reveals that implementing these solutions for one group too often required the continued colonization of the other, entrenching US colonialism in Guhan and enflaming tensions between CHamorus and Filipinos. Examining these antagonisms, Oberiano argues that building relationships with the CHamoru virtue of inafamaolekto make goodcan nurture CHamoru-Filipino solidarities and illuminate alternative possibilities for Guhans ongoing decolonization movement.