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The Reproductive Lives Of Chuukese Women: Transnationalism In Guam And Chuuk, Sarah Ann Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chuuk, one state of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), experiences significant transnational migration to the United States (U.S.), particularly to the Territory of Guam. This migration is facilitated by the Compact of Free Association (COFA), an agreement with several Micronesian countries previously under U.S. administration that allows for free movement of their citizens into the U.S. Although part of Micronesia, Guam's colonized residents resist an identity connected to rest of Micronesia. With very poor health outcomes, the Chuukese represent a political and social body of bodies that bring sickness, babies and increased costs to the Guam government without adequate …