In my interview with Marie Maddison in Majuro, she explained that her knowledge of Marshallese ways of being came with learning the language from elders, after returning from college in the U.S. An example is notions of governance: “We have the chiefs and the braves. We don’t say workers, we say braves. The word for brave is ‘kajjuur’ and the word for chief is ‘irooj.’ The word ‘irooj’ comes from two root words ‘er’ which is ‘them;’ ‘irooj’ means those people make up the chief. And ‘kajjurr,’ the braves, it comes from two words, ‘joor’ is pillar. So when you build a pillar or foundation, that is the braves, and without the foundation there is no chief. Those are the words I was taught by an older woman. And that is where the culture really is. You don’t learn this in school.”

VIDEO

A Marshallese Interview

BY wenshinc
theme country
language Marshallese
country The Marshall Islands
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