The Importance of Indigenous Scholarship, Indigenous Knowledge, and Education in Micronesia

This chapter examines the importance of indigenous scholarship in the Micronesian region. The authors assess education, in particular graduate students' Master's theses in the Micronesian Studies Program at the University of Guam. The University of Guam is the only four-year university in the region, offering undergraduate and graduate programs. One of the main objectives of the university is research contribution to other two-year colleges in the region, such as the College of the Marshall Islands and the College of Micronesia, Yap State Campus. The importance of indigenous knowledge, the art of researching, cultural preservation, indigenous research methods, educational responsibilities, and imposter syndrome among UOG undergraduate students are discussed throughout the chapter, noting that education should be seen as an agent of social change by promoting indigenous scholarship, indigenous research methods, indigenous languages, sense of identity, and putting forth significant contributions to the academic literature of Micronesia.

Achieving Balance Through Fundamentals of Digital Librarianship

In efforts to strengthen its digitization program, the University Libraries of University of Guam have assembled members from its Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Library and Micronesian Area Research Center to identify standards and frameworks to facilitate sustainable, long-term access and preservation of its indigenous and historic collections. Following the 2019 Pacific Islands Association of Libraries Annual Conference hosted at the University of Guam RFK Library and the unveiling of the Para Hulo' Strategic Plan, a greater institutional emphasis has been placed on the need for digitally accessible archives and remote access. University Libraries investigates the need to balance utilitarian functions of traditional librarianship with the democratic ideals inherent in the profession, as expressed through revisiting a range of literature to articulate the connections between digital librarianship, traditional librarianship, and analog to digital conversion.

Reflections on the Pedagogy of International Field Schools in Bali, Indonesia

Over the past 15 years, through the platform of a senior-level undergraduate course at the University of Guam, a team of professors, researchers, and development practitioners have been striving to refine a pedagogic approach that draws on the value of an embedded international field school to Bali, Indonesia. These efforts are designed to help students understand and appreciate the foundational concepts of community development, while also fostering a learning environment and an experiential program that empowers participants to actively engage in social discourses that contribute in positive and transformative ways to their communities. Employing a curriculum that focuses on both classroom work and international field school experience, students and professors as well as many other participants in the field explore such concepts and practices that are proving to be essential to a sound understanding of community development in the modern age.