History talks sought to heal the CNMI’s ‘wounds’

Close to 300 individuals gathered at the Hibiscus Hall of the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan last Friday for the opening night of the 6th Marianas History Conference in the CNMI., which was being hosted by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council.

According to NMHC executive director Leo Pangelinan, there were actually 350 registered guests and nearly all of them were in attendance that first night. “I’m thrilled that a lot of people showed up despite the heavy rains we’ve been experiencing,” he shared

The crowd itself was a mix of interested community members, CNMI historians and history lovers alike, some of which were also presenters, as well as visiting guest speakers from Spain, Japan, Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland

The keynote speaker that night was traditional herbalist Donald Mendiola, and he shared a deeper view of the cultural practices of traditional medicine and herbs, the differences between the suruhånu (suruhano is a variant spelling) and suruhåna, the makåna and kakahna, as well as his personal experience in the realm of local medicine.

Mendiola shared his stories in the Chamorro dialect, and later Pangelinan shared an English translation and summary of what was spoken. He then explained that the experience was a rare opportunity and powerful. “We decided it was best if he spoke Chamorro the whole time. …It was good because he needed to take us on that journey in the Chamorro language and share that energy…”

Pangelinan said that hearing Mendiola speak in pure Chamorro was a rare opportunity in a conference such as the Marianas History Conference which as an audience that isn’t majority Chamorro, or have a majority of Chamorro speakers. “To be exposed and immersed in that…I think that’s important [and] essential,” he said. “The colonial influences on our people here has been very destructive for us in terms of our culture, but…his message tonight was [to] leave that behind. We cannot change that. We got to think positive and change the outlook of what we think about the future.”

The conference continued all day Saturday and Sunday and included morning refreshments; meals; an exclusive dinner with cultural performances; all access to sessions and roundtables; experiential learning activities, some highlights being sailing trips; a tour of the Garapan Heritage Trail; Amut walk; and the new Marianas Experience showcase at DFS’ T Galleria. This year’s theme is “Healing the Wounds of History.”

All sessions, excluding the experimental sessions, has been recorded and accessible for registered members who have downloaded and are using the Whova app. Pangelinan shared that he hopes to get others to access these recorded sessions soon, but it might take a couple of months to compile all the recorded sessions into one accessible material.

The conference was a collaboration among the University of Guam, Humanities Guåhan, Guam Preservation Trust, Guampedia, Northern Marianas College, the CNMI Public School System, and the CNMI Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.