CHAMORU CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT IN COLLEGE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

CHamoru students represent one of the fastest-growing diasporic Pasifika communities in California yet remain systematically invisible in higher education research and institutional practice. This phenomenological qualitative study examined how CHamoru students develop their cultural identity during college at California Community Colleges and how institutions can cultivate culturally affirming spaces to support that development. Grounded in Indigenous qualitative methodology and the original Latte framework rooted in kostumbren CHamoru and the symbolism of the latte stone, 13 CHamoru community college students across seven California institutions participated as knowledge holders through individual talk story sessions and material culture methodology. Findings revealed multidimensional, asset-based cultural identities, sophisticated deployment of community cultural wealth, and pervasive institutional invisibility through data aggregation, curricular erasure, and absence of Pasifika representation. Six recommendations for institutional transformation are offered, and the Latte framework is advanced as an original contribution to Indigenous identity development theory.