{"id":6467,"date":"2026-09-16T09:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/ford-panel-examines-shifting-political-narratives-across-u-s-territories\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:49:12","slug":"ford-panel-examines-shifting-political-narratives-across-u-s-territories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/ford-panel-examines-shifting-political-narratives-across-u-s-territories\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford panel examines shifting political narratives across U.S. territories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents gathered in the Ford School of Public Policy Tuesday evening for <a href=\"https:\/\/fordschool.umich.edu\/event\/2026\/decolonizing-imagination-narratives-memory-and-political-possibility-us-territories\">\u201cDecolonizing imagination: Narratives, memory and political possibility in the U.S. territories.\u201d<\/a> The panel hoped to spark conversations about the impact of the United States\u2019 policy on its territories, and how those territories can reclaim cultural and political narratives.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation was hosted in collaboration between the <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.umich.edu\/\">Center for Democracy &amp; Civic Empowerment<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/trotter.umich.edu\/\">Trotter Multicultural Center<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/polisci\">Political Science Department<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/english\">Department of English Language and Literature<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/social-solutions\">Center for Social Solutions<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/latina\">Latina\/o Studies Program<\/a> as part of the University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyweek.umich.edu\/\">Democracy Week<\/a> programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The panel featured four speakers: Michael Lujan Bevacqua, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guammuseumfoundation.org\/\">Guam Museum<\/a> curator and founder of the first <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.uog.edu\/current\/programs\/college-of-liberal-arts-and-social-sciences\/chamoru-studies\">CHamoru Studies Program<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uog.edu\/\">University of Guam<\/a>; Imani Daniel, executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.viision.org\/\">Virgin Islands Institute for Social Impact, Opulence, and Noetics<\/a> and delegate of the sixth U.S. Virgin Islands constitutional convention; Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, director of publishing at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uog.edu\/uogpress\/\">University of Guam Press<\/a>; and Hadiya Sewer, co-founder of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stjanco.org\/\">St. John Heritage Collective<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leon Guerrero opened the panel by introducing her work building a K-12 civics curriculum that centers <a href=\"https:\/\/houseofchamorros.org\/the-chamorro-people-i-taotao-tasi-the-people-of-the-sea\/\">CHamoru<\/a> and Micronesian history and culture. Leon Guerrero said a key goal in directing publishing at the University of Guam Press is sharing stories children can see themselves in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMany of us, all of us growing up in Wahoo, did not have books that we were learning from that taught us about ourselves,\u201d Leon Guerrero said. \u201cSo we started the effort of the press by really wanting to find out: What are the kinds of books people want? And, also, what are the obstacles preventing our creative community from publishing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Empowering youth has been another one of Leon Guerrero\u2019s goals in uplifting cultural voices, alongside advocating for legislation to promote more local, cultural literature. Leon Guerrero said she hopes a new curriculum can increase cultural visibility for students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis really acknowledges that students have been invisible for so long \u2014 and they shouldn\u2019t be,\u201d Leon Guerrero said. \u201cNot only should they be visible in their learning, they should feel like active participants. Not just in their learning, but also in their community, in their society\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sewer continued the conversation by examining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitusvi.com\/explore\/heritage-culture-and-customs\/\">colonial history<\/a> of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Looking at prevailing narratives on the island, Sewer said conversations about political changes like pushing for statehood or independence are often pushed to the side, something she believes has been largely driven by U.S. control of the islands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn many of our prevailing narratives in the territory, this idea of independence \u2014 or even resolving our political status dilemma more broadly \u2014 gets positioned as something that\u2019s beyond the boundaries of reason itself,\u201d Sewer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sewer compared the crafting practice of <a href=\"https:\/\/britishartstudies.ac.uk\/issues\/21\/colonial-trash-to-island-treasure\">chaney<\/a> to cultural rebuilding and said she feels creating something new with the fragments of a broken empire works to subvert colonial messaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChaney challenges the premise that fragmentation equals lack,\u201d Sewer said. \u201cIt argues that the empire that believes firmly in its sovereignty and wholeness \u2014 while it colonizes and barrels foreign military expansion, technological singularity and planetary crisis \u2014 cannot see that it too is a shard creating multiple shards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation then moved to Bevacqua, who discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rematriation.org\/\">rematriation<\/a> of artifacts to both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guampdn.com\/news\/ancestral-chamoru-remains-back-home-after-148-years-theyre-in-new-york-for-a-century\/article_6b19ea9b-98d0-442c-8ef8-054fefcdc17b.html\">Guam<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/governor.cnmi.gov\/news\/ancestral-artifacts-return-home-to-the-marianas\/\">Mariana<\/a> through the Guam Museum. Bevacqua said the museum is focused on the cultural preservation of both CHamoru history and the Chamoru people of today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bevacqua shared his experience of teaching the native CHamoru language to a generation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2020\/feb\/13\/the-fight-to-save-chamoru-a-language-the-us-military-tried-to-destroy\">historically deprived<\/a> of the opportunity to practice it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was a recognition for me that I might give the language to my children, but if they go out into the world and there\u2019s no one else speaking their age, or if the society that they enter continues to devalue the language, then it doesn\u2019t matter if I gave them a gift \u2014 they will throw it away,\u201d Bevacqua said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, Daniel told the audience her grandmother was considered stateless at birth.\u00a0 Daniel said she feels her grandmother\u2019s citizenship was \u2014 and still is \u2014 representative of many islanders\u2019 experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt reflected its political logic,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cThe governments negotiating the future of the islands treated the people living there as inhabitants of a transferred territory, but not as people whose consent established legitimate authority within the lands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.obama.org\/programs\/leaders\/usa\/2025-2026\/imani-daniel\/\">Serving<\/a> as a delegate to the <a href=\"https:\/\/vivote.gov\/sixth-constitutional-convention-nomination-papers-available-for-prospective-candidates\/\">Sixth Constitutional Convention<\/a> of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Daniel said she believes regaining political power is an important aspect of reclaiming the agency of the islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen we begin every political discussion with \u2018What will Congress allow,\u2019 we\u2019re not merely assessing legal risk like we are at the constitutional convention, but we\u2019re allowing the anticipated response of the dominant power to structure the field of thought before our people even decide what we want,\u201d Daniel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with The Michigan Daily after the event, Public Health student Sarah McNally said she appreciated the spotlight the event placed on Indigenous island communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis discussion in decolonial work introduces what seems to be a novel concept in traditional Western academia, in particular \u2014 that there is inherent value in Indigenous knowledge,\u201d McNally said. \u201cThere always has been. We\u2019ve always had our own systems of governance, our own systems to take care of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Daily News Editor Sarah Palushi can be<\/em> <em>reached at<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/government\/decolonizing-imagination-ford-panel-examines-shifting-political-narratives-across-u-s-territories\/mailto:sarpal@umich.edu\"><em>sarpal@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents gathered in the Ford School of Public Policy Tuesday evening for \u201cDecolonizing imagination: Narratives, memory and political possibility in the U.S. territories.\u201d The panel hoped to spark conversations about the impact of the United States\u2019 policy on its territories, and how those territories can reclaim cultural and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[5512,774,5513,4407,783,2208,5514,979],"class_list":["post-6467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-examines","tag-ford","tag-narratives","tag-panel","tag-political","tag-shifting","tag-territories","tag-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6469,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6467\/revisions\/6469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}