CHamoru in motion: agency, display and the circulation of objects, people and knowledge from the Mariana Islands to Spain

Ferrándiz Gaudens, Alba Laura (2025) CHamoru in motion: agency, display and the circulation of objects, people and knowledge from the Mariana Islands to Spain. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the circulation, agency and display of objects, people and knowledge from the Mariana Islands to Spain across 134 years. These three theoretical axes have not previously been applied in a focused way to studies of CHamoru collections in general, or to those on Pacific collections housed in Spanish institutions more specifically. Employing a multi-method approach, this study reveals overlooked narratives that have shaped the representation and interpretation of CHamoru material culture, people and knowledge within European contexts.

The thesis focuses on two case-studies in the history of these processes: the Exposición General de las Islas Filipinas, Marianas y Carolinas (1887) and the BIBA CHamoru: Cultura e Identidad en las Islas Marianas (2021) exhibitions. Additionally, the period between these events is also examined, focusing on how objects from the Marianaswere reshuffled and re-interpreted as they moved through various Spanish institutions, which themselves underwent ideological transformations. While the main focus of the thesis is on the mobility of objects, people and knowledge in both colonial and postcolonial settings, two associated processes are also highlighted: the distinct modes of display of CHamoru objects, people and knowledge in different historical and spatial contexts, and the agency of CHamoru people in the production, circulation and knowledge-making related to these objects and exhibitions.

I argue that the movement, agency and exhibition of objects, people and knowledge from the Mariana Islands in Spain constitute long-standing, multifaceted and complex processes that have evolved over time, linking diverse places, actors (both human and non-human) and knowledge traditions. In this way, this thesis will contribute to contemporary scholarly debates about mobility of objects and knowledge across time, Indigenous agency and self-representation in both colonial and postcolonial contexts, the reinterpretation of colonial museum collections and contemporary collaborations between museums and communities of origin.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	02 Feb 2026 15:27
Last Modified:	02 Feb 2026 15:27
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101813
DOI:

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