A FREE, weekly online lecture series on ancient Chamorros begins today, Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m., according to Guam Museum Curator Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua.
The lectures will be conducted every Wednesday for the entire month of November.
Bevacqua said interested individuals can send a message through the “Studies of the Chamorro” page on Facebook or the Guam Bus page on Instagram or Facebook. The link to the class will be provided.
The first lecture topic will address the Chamorro creation stories, as well as indigenous seafaring and navigation practiced by the ancient Chamorros.
Over the course of the series, Bevacqua will focus on Chamorro social structure and organization; weapons and warfare; religion and funeral rituals; and customs and culture related to jewelry, greetings, taboos, and more.
Bevacqua said he is offering these lectures because “education can take place anywhere.”
“I have had the privilege in my life of being able to spend days, weeks, [and] months in archives and going through sources to learn as much as I can about the history of the CHamoru people,” Bevacqua said. “I feel obligated to find ways to help make available the things I find…to a wider audience than just academics.”
He said the lectures stem from the inquiries he’d receive in other classes that he teaches.
Aside from his role as the curator of the Guam Museum, Bevacqua also teaches a free Chamorro language class on Zoom.
He said during the class, students expressed interest in learning topics that extended beyond just language.
“I decided to create something that could support their interests, to help encourage them to keep on their journey to learn their language, and learn their heritage,” he said. “Our relationship with the past can speak volumes about who we are in the present. The connection we have to the land, to the artifacts, to the ancestral remains, but also to the knowledge of the past, reveal a lot about us.”
Michael Lujan Bevacqua
