WEBVTT

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"No one can take
our story from us."

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These are the words of a
Chamorro elder, indigenous

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to the Pacific island of Guam.

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Craig Santos Perez invokes these
words in his most recent book,

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from Unincorporated
Territory, [gumá],

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published in 2014 by Omnidawn.

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The elder is Craig Santos
Perez's grandpa, and the island

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of Guam and its
indigenous Chamorro people

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are Craig's origins
and his commitment.

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Craig inscribes his commitment
into his three acclaimed books

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of poetry, as well as his
prose, which is currently

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focused on breaking the
legacy of gastro-colonalism,

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a longstanding cultural and
nutritional blight, in which

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Indigenous local
foods are crowded out

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by commercialized,
unhealthy colonizers,

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such as the iconic can of SPAM.

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Craig also affirms
his commitment

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through his scholarship and
support for indigenous writers

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and writing
communities in Hawaii,

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where he directs
the creative writing

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program at the University
of Hawaii Manoa,

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throughout the Pacific, and
in indigenous North America.

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"No one can take
our story from us."

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When Craig takes
the podium, we will

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understand that we are
a part of this story

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about the ways that colonialism
and militarisation invade

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native peoples,
cultures, and ecologies,

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and the ways that
we can fight back.

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And I predict that we will
never have heard the story

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unfold in poetry in as
comprehensive and daring

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a way as we will tonight,
incorporating cross-outs,

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white space, line drawings,
maps, the Chamorro

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language, the public
record, Facebook comments,

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and instructions for making
a delicious and revolutionary

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green smoothie.

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Mmm.

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Craig Santos Perez's work
establishes poetic sites

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as complex and rich as
the physical place it

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references and champions.

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Let's all welcome
Craig Santos Perez.

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[APPLAUSE]