A Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Project for the Asan Beach Unit and Agat Unit Management Plan War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Territory of Guam

Santos Steffy, Rlene; Tomonari-Tuggle, M.J.

At the request of the National Park Service, International Archaeology, LLC, has carried out a Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Project (REAP) for the Asan Beach and Agat Units of the War in the Pacific National Historical Park (WAPA). The purpose of the REAP is to provide ethnographic baseline information for a planned Asan and Agat Unit Management Plan (AAUMP)/environmental assessment (EA), which will involve consultations with the Guam State Historic Preservation Officer and other consulting parties. The REAP will also help to assess the effects of the AAUMP for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Eight residents of Asan and Agat were interviewed for the REAP. They range in age from 61 to 83 (as of 2021), with oldest being born in 1938 and the youngest in 1964. The oldest narrators were young children during and after World War II; combined with the stories told them by their parents, their memories provide a look back to the early part of the mid-20th century. The youngest narrators offer perspectives of the 1960s and 1970s. In total, the narrators relate traditions, practices, and history from at least the 1930s to the present. Given the age range of the REAP narrators, the study focused on the period from roughly the late 1930s to the 1970s, with consideration of the period up to the present. The research also included review of historical documents (including graphical materials such as maps and photographs) and earlier ethnographic reports to provide a context and inform the synthesis of current interviews. Volume I presents the narrative of the REAP. Volume IIa contains the full transcripts of the oral history interviews for five Asan residents. The companion Volume IIb (the present volume) contains the transcripts of interviews for one Asan resident and two Agat residents.