Put guåhu

I am Chamoru, the native people of the Mariana Islands in Micronesia, Oceania. My håle’ is deeply rooted in the southernmost islands, Luta yan Guåhan. I am a descendant of farmers, hunters, fisherfolk, and civic leaders. The knowledge and legacy of this heritage leads every facet of my life, especially now as I navigate my journey through higher education.

I am currently a 4th-year PhD student in the Linguistics Department at University of California, Berkeley. My main research focus and interests rest at the junction of Indigenous language work & reclamation, including language revitalization, and Chamoru morphosyntax and phonology. My work asks how we as Indigenous linguists can bridge the seemingly contradictory nature of academic linguistic knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing and being. My current research seeks to reconcile this by offering a model of how formal linguistic analysis can serve Indigenous language work & reclamation.