PLEASE TYPE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Project Report Sheet

Surname or Family. name ...... Kiuse Vaai , ...... Firstname: ...... ~ ...... : ...... Othername/s: ...... J:l~.l.~JJg ...... Abbreviationfordegreeasgivenin the University calendar: ...... g9.P...... Schoot: ...... ~gJ.i~.h ...... Faculty: ..... !::E!-.!!?. ...?..1]-9.- ... §~S~?..~.... §S~~~~.~.~ ...... n&: ..... ~.?.9.Y.s~s. ...~e~ ... I~~t ..C?..L~;b:t:.~.~.; .... :n}~..... ~P.P.E9.P.E;t;§.t.~9.D ... 9.t. ... g;g.9.~.-t§n ... ;t;D...... ~S?D.t~.f.§IT. ...§~.~ ......

Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE)

This study investigates the ways in which English has been received by Sqmoan society and continues to shape present day life in Western Samoa. It provides a literary and sociolinguistic study of several domains which have incorporated English in ways which reveal the hybrid complexity of contemporary Samoan life. Rather than a 'dualistic' "detente" between Samoan and English, the colonial language has been incorporated as an authentic feature of Samoan society.

The thesis considers how the traditional traverses the modern and creates cross cultural "texts" - written, spoken, acted or carrnunicated in various ways. Such texts are helping to shape Samoan society, and the language use on which they are predicated can be explained by analysing their post-colonial features. Samoa is not alone in the complex adoption of the colonial English language, but the particularly resilient nature of Samoan society has revealed the positive benefits of a hybrid social developnent.

Declaration relating to dl!lposltlon of project report/thesis

I am fully aware of the policy of the University relating to the retention and use ofhigherdegreepro.Jectreports and theses, namely that the University retains the copiessubmittedforexaminationandisfreetoallowthemtobeconsultedorborrowed.SubjecttotheprovisionsoftheCopyrlghtActl968,theUniversitymay issue a project report or thesis in whole orin part, in photostat or microfilm or other copying medium.

I also authorise the publication by University Microfilms of a 350word abstracfin Dissertation Abstracts International (applicable to doctorates only). I 1...... ! . \...... ,.:l~~ .. l'-.1..~ ...... Signature f VWitness Date

The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. RequestS forrestriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing to the Registrar. Requests fora longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances ifaccompanied by a Iettec of support from the Supervisor or Head of SchooL Such requests must be submitted with the thesis/projectreport. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY l J ln • ...1 a }I,.. -~·

THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE TimSIS ST 428.24 87 Producing the Text of Culture: The Appropriation of English in Contemporary Samoa

by

Emma Kruse V a' ai

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of English University of New South Waic.s February 1998 UNSW 2 9 APR 1998 LIBRARY CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare Umt U1is submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any otl1er educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in U1e U1esis. Any contribution made to U1e research by colleagues, witl1 whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, during my candidature, is fully acknowledged.

I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is U1e product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. '·

This work is dedicated to the Mission Sisters of the Society of Mary (SMSM) whose contribution to Education in Samoa continues.

Sa i le amataga le Upu ... Johni: i Acknowledgments Fa'afetai tele lava to all who helped bring this work to completion. I apologise for

being unable t9 thank every one by name. Sincere thanks.to my supervisor Dr Bill Ashcroft and co- supervisor, Associate Professor Grant Me Call for their patience and support across the miles between Samoa and Australia. Thanks also to the Australian Government for funding this study; to Vice Chancellors of the National University of Samoa (NUS): Tauiliili Uili Meredith (1984-92) and Tauavamea Dr. L. Palepoi (1993- 98), the University Council, the English Department and staff of the National University for their.encouragement and support. Thanks also to the University of the South Pacific (USP)- School of Agriculture - Alafua Campus for giving me a study space in the first two years of this journey. Thank you to Dr. Geulah Solomon and Dr Peggy Fairbairn Dunlop whose initial interest and continual help made this extramural study possible.

I thank also the people. who gave their time to talk and help in numerous· ways; to friends, and various members of our local community, the Public Service and Government Departments, the local radio stations, teachers, local writers and creative artists. Thank you also to the members of the Judiciary and Legal Profession, the Justice Department, the staff and students of Samoa College, the staff of the USP libraries- Alafua and Malifa Centre, the Nelson Public Library, Siavata Gale and staff of the NUS Library. Thanks also to the UNSW School of English staff and postgrads for their assistance and goodwill during my 2-month (August- September 1997) writing stint on-campus.

To my parents Hans and Moana Kruse, my brothers and sisters - so far yet so near in your tapuaiga, my children Moana, Saleimoa, Courtney, Monique and Jay, my husband Alo Vaemoa and to the rest of our aiga- Malo le tapua'L Fa'afetai le alofa. Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which English has been received by Samoan society and continues to shape present day life in Western Samoa. It provides a literary and sociolinguistic study of several domains which have incorporated English in ways which reveal the hybrid complexity of contemporary Samoan life. Rather than a 'dualistic' "detente" between Samoan and English, the colonial language has been incorporated as an authentic feature of Samoan society.

The thesis considers how the traditional traverses the modern and creates cross cultural'texts' --written, spoken, acted or communicated in various ways. Such texts are helping to shape Samoan society, and the language use on which they are predicated can be explained by analysing their post-colonial features·. Samoa is not alone in the complex adoption of the colonial English language, but the particularly resilient nature of Samoan society has revealed the positive benefits of a hybrid social development.

oOo Contents

Introduction i

Chapter One: Language, Culture and Text: Theoretical Issues. 1

(i) Language and Cultural Reality. 2 (ii) Textuality: 9 (iii) Hybridity 15 (iv) The Myth of Authenticity 19 (v) Ambivalence 26 (vi) Language as Social Practice 28

Chapter Two: Dynamism and Resilience: Samoan Social Structure and Cultural ~~ ~

Faa-Samoa: The Resilience of the System 33 TheMatai 34 The Maintainance of Faa Samoa: Social Behaviour, Social Structure and Language Use. 42 The Adaptation of Traditional to Modern: Political Organisation 48 A Hybrid System: The Courts and the Fono 52 Village Jurisdiction 55 Adaptability: The Appropriation of Christianity. 57

Chapter Three: Linguistic and Cultural Hybridization 63

The Case for Hybridity 65 Modes of Hybridization in Samoa. 71 Cultural Hybridization 71 The Samoan Counting System and Calendar 73 Linguistic Hybridization 77 Children's Talk 79 Faafafine 80 Informal Contexts of Discourse 83 Regional Variants 88 Language Use in Parliament and the Public Service 90 Chapter Four: A Post-colonial Judicial System 98

The Two Systems : the Law Courts and the Village Fono. 99 The Ifoga 105 The Interaction of Judicial Systems 111 The Role and Use of Language 113 The Concept Of "The Reasonable Man" 119 The Significance of the Judicial'Text' for Contemporary Western Samoa 123

Chapter Five: Samoan Performance and Cross Cultural Textuality: Three Case Studies 131

Three Performance Models 132

Case Study (i) Appropriation and Comic Improvisation: The Faleaitu. An Oral Play. A traditional Comic form in a Modern Setting. 133

Case study (ii) Between the Oral and the Written: Light at the End a play with an oral script. 140

Case Study (iii) The Hybrid Written Script: Think of a Garden by John Kneribuhl. 151

Chapter Six: Popular Culture 160

The Growth of the Popular Media 160 Culture and Popular Media 165 Popular Songs 167 Stories 177

Chapter Seven: Literary Culture 182

The Interrogation of Colonial Culture . 186 Beyond Janet and John - Sam

Conclusion 217 Introduction

This study aims to examine the adaptation and change in Western Samoa which . . has come about through the appropriation of English. While the specific focus is on the impact of English, as a language introduced into a society which already had its own indigenous language, it also has relevance as a case study and research model which can be applied to many Pacific Island states and other countries where English or another European language has been part of the colonial experience.

The literature of modernisation and development reflects the low prominence accorded to the role of language in individual, community and national development in colonised societies. Kaplan (1990) in Language Planning and Education in Australasia and the South Pacific refers to the centrality of language to the functioning of entire nations but unfortunately in the operations of government this is not widely perceived and language planning activities have tended to be relegated to educational structures. Theories of develoP.ment and dependency provide some background to the role of education in development, but do not specifically deal with the language of interaction. Furthermore, governments see the language issue as far less important than the management of natural resources and other issues (cited in Baldauf and Luke eds. 1990: 5-8). Christine Fox, (1995) in her study on intercultural communication also states that the literature on development in Third World contexts did not focus on communication from a critical linguistic perspective and therefore there was a need to examine links which were "obvious in reality but not revealed through literature" (5). Yet, an understanding of the people, the culture and the social systems of such societies includes the crucial aspect of their main system of communication. Language is the primary means by which ideas and beliefs are 11 conveyed, exchanged and maintained. People's usage and attitudes to language provide understanding for all areas of social activity such as power relations, group membership, attitudinal biases, class systems and educational expectations.

This thesis, therefore, is primarily a study of adaptation and change in Western Samoa as it manifests itself in the use and appropriation of English. The colonial experience has not only affected indigenous languages but also conveyed new ideas and values which have often converged and conflicted with those of the colonized. Edward Said expresses this situation clearly when he states 11 Partly because of empire, all cultures are involved in one another, none is single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogeneous, extra-ordinarily differentiated and unmonolithic11 (Said 1993: xxix). Terms such as 'New literatures', 'New Englishes', 'Third World Englishes' (Kachru 1977; Platt Weber and Ito 1984) describe new hybrid forms of English expression and usage adapted by formerly colonized peoples. But it is the development of post-colonial theory which enables us to examine the various strategies of resistance and appropriation which textual reflections of this hybridity share in their response to imperial dominance.

The interest in this research project emerged out of my own experience, observation and participation in the use of English and Samoan as a member of the community. I was born, grew up and now live in Western Samoa. The issues discussed and analysed in this study are those which affect me personally in the many roles which I hold within my community. In one of these roles as a lecturer in English, my interest has focussed on the effects of

English on language use in particular and on Samoan society in general. These processes of language and adaptation are an important part of Samoan history; and also part of a greater 'world saga' w_hich has been perceived and reported largely through Western eyes and voices. lll

Throughout this study my perspective, voice, representation and participation affirms Gramsds point that,

The starting point of critical elaboration is the consciousness of wh~t one really is, and is 'knowing thyself' as a product of the historical process to date, which has deposited in you an infinity of traces, without leaving an inventory .... therefore it is · imperative at the outset to compile such an inventory (1971: 324 cited in Said 1991: 25).

This study aims to provide an inventory by considering how past events, practices and individuals constitute or contribute to our present. To understand this interface of past and present which characterises cqntemporary Samoan life, is also in itself a process of comprehending oneself as an individual and oneself as a part of other social entities.

The topic of this thesis was selected because language is one way of perceiving the dialogical relationship between the past and present and also between ourselves and others. For example, words from the past which still exist today, may have taken on new meanings or intermingled with current words to form new ones which in fact contain traces of the old. Words continue to be introduced from other cultures together with practices, abstract ideas and concrete forms which have interacted and interwoven with local varieties to create hybrid forms.

Because language change and social change go hand in hand, hybrid forms of language are also part of the wider evolution of hybrid forms of social practices. People may disclaim biological hybridity but they may practise heterogeneous ways of living as a result of 'other knowledges' acquired through different forms of media or contact and interaction with people other than their own. The interweaving of different social actions is in fact always reflected by the interweaving of language use. To study language as social action or within the context of other social actions therefore entails a study of IV people. To understand how and why pe~ple use language in certain ways, in certain contexts, leads to a greater understanding of people themselves.

Cro~s-cultural texts are the result of the contact and interaction of two or more cultures. The Samoan cross-cultural texts examined here largely emerged through interaction between Samoan people and Europeans who first arrived in Samoa as beachcombers, missionaries, traders and colonialists. However it is important to note that cross-cultural experiences are not only of this period. Cross-cultural experiences were a feature of pre-colonial times for example between Samoans and other Pacific Islanders such as the Tongans from whom the traditional Samoan fine mat originated and is referred to in Samoan as ie Toga- Tongan fine mat. This pre-European tradition of contact, conflict and appropriation in language and culture therefore augmented the Samoan disposition for adaptation, which manifested itself further in the eventual appropriation of English. Today, the continuing interaction appears to continue in different ways. In the political arena, certain post-colonial associations are sometimes referred to as forms of neo-colonialism. In addition, intermarriages, long and short term associations or simply knowing others and adapting outside ways to Samoan life, illustrate that it is not easy to separate people nor their practices and beliefs into distinct, homogenous entities because they continue to merge, interact and effect change. An account of Samoan colonisation (see Chapters 2 and 3) demonstrates this historical process of contact and adaptation.

The argument of this thesis is that within these continuing changes and interactions, Samoans also continue to realise their identitY and the importance of their own social structures. This theme of identity "realised in difference rather than essence" (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 1989: 15-37) pervades this study of the role of English in language qse and social change in Western Samoa. The use of English, its adaptation and appropriation to traditional v discourse has become metonymic of the adaptation made in Samoa between strong social structures on one hand and vulnerability in a world environment on the other. The use of English is both representative of, and a prime agent in, this balancing act performed by Samoan society. Traditional structures are profoundly affected but not necessarily threatened or extinguished by the appropriation of colonizing discourses because they continue to remain strong in language use, religion, law, politics and other domains where cross­ culturalism is inevitable.

The underlying question of this study is whether Samoa•s appropriation of colonizing discourses leads to the construction or destruction of its own cultural identity. It also discusses how important this cultural identity is in the Samoan post-colonial world or, more specifically what will be referred to in this thesis as the production of Samoan cross-cultural 'texts'. Because language use penetrates all spheres of social life this study has been motivated by pedagogic as well as socio-linguistic theoretical considerations. The thesis pursues a multi­ disciplinary approach by selecting a number of different domains which not only exemplify the unique use of Samoan and English in Western Samoa but as well, other overlapping cross-cultural consequences of contact.

This approach will provide original data and fresh insights because firstly, there have been no in-depth studies to date which have focussed on cross-cultural language use in Western Samoa with the possible exception of Fanaafi Maiai1s (1960) doctorate entitled Bilingualism in Western Samoa. Its problems and implications for Education. Ochs• (1988) study concentrates on language acquisition and socialisation in Samoan, not English. Similarly, Duranti•s 1981 study of the Samoan Fono (Village Council Meetings) also focusses on the use of Samoan within village meeting contexts. Secondly, although most studies on Vl

Samoan society in general have been by outsiders (mostly Western) looking in,1 this study locates the writer as a participant-observer of many of the processes discussed, thus supplementing a growing body of research undertaken by Samoans on Samoa.2

The issues of post-coloniality, cross-culturality and textuality are basic themes of this study. Post-coloniality refers to "all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day" (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 1989: 2). As Albert Wendt puts it, "the post-colonial does not just mean after, it also means around, through, out of, alongside and against" (1995: 3). It is important therefore to avoid the phrases 'colonial' and 'post­ colonial' as historical or chronological terms. Post-colonialism takes into account not only the initial contact but also the catalytic continuity of cross­ cultural preoccupations spread throughout the historical process. The idea of the metropolitan centre interacting with its province or subservient territory to create new forms such as post-colonialliteratures has subsequently led to the growth of related post-colonial and cross-cultural criticism, much of which is currently in its developing stages. This dynamic process signifies a discourse which was initially maintained under the constraints of an imperial dominance but which developed an independence 3 and moved further away from imperial cultural hegemony towards heterogeneity, through the appropriation of language, writing and many other social practices.

The realisation of marginal and subordinate positions of colonised indigenous people in fields such as politics, law, and literature led to different kinds of response: calculated and conscious, as in the political move for independence;

1 For example: Mead 1928; Davidson 1967; Gilson 1970; Shore 1981; Freeman 1983; Field 1984; Thomas 1986; Ochs 1988; O'Meara 1990. 2 For example: Maiai 1957; Wendt 1965; Amituanai 1969; Fairbairn, 1973; Leung Wai 1975; Eteuati 1982; Meleisea 1987; Mallia 1988; Vaa 1989; Afamasaga Fu~tai 1990; Fairbaim-Dunlop 1991; Tauaa­ Matalavea 1992; Lilomaiava-Niko 1994. 3See Venn (1992) for a discussion on the struggles to break free from old dominations rooted in colonialism and its legacy .. Vll spontaneous and creative, as in the production of popular culture and other literary forms; persistent yet earnest in making its presence felt in predominantly European domains such as the law courts. The use of language in different fields signifies this continuing cross-cultural discourse between pre­ colonial and post-colonial, between traditional and modern, between foreign and local. A selection of the Samoan cultural texts produced in these post­ colonial circumstances form the objects of investigation. The notion of 'textuality' is crucial to this study in that the references to texts are no longer confined to the written word but to all actions and signs that are 'meanable'­ that which can be interpreted or understood; the disclosure and exchange of meanings in interpersonal contexts of one kind or another. Texts perceived as such can also illustrate the means by which European codes were imposed and maintained in Western Samoa. More importantly, they also show how Samoans reacted to dismantle, subvert and appropriate these introduced codes for their own purposes. These various, everyday acts of meaning are performances within which people review and re-affirm their social structures and adapt their shared systems of value and knowledge to their contemporary situations.

The post-colonial condition of Western Samoa is therefore discussed in this thesis through selected case studies of particular cross-cultural'texts' which all demonstrate significant features of post-colonial discourse, such as heterogeneity, hybridity, ambivalence and adaptability. The research project shows how people change and appropriate English within their own particular contexts to suit their needs in a complex process which is both conscious and unconscious. These spoken, written and acted cross-cultural texts signify deeper and more complex changes and developments within contemporary Samoan society. As such, they provide qualitative baseline data on the nature of social change as reflected by language use and related practices in Western Samoa. viii

To re-state the thesis of this study: English in Western Samoa provides a language for Samoan self-expression and wider communication and also an access to broader knowledge and resources without any loss of cultural integrity and with no inevitable submergence by imperial culture. The process of appropriating this introduced language and its associated practices also contributes to the preservation of the considerable autonomy and flexibility which characterises the faa Samoa or Samoan way of life. On the whole, it is a continual process of adaptation and appropriation whereby Samoan society attempts to deal with the demands of modern reality in a post-colonial world and at the same time, competently maintain its own cultural identity. This has been made possible by the dynamism and resilience of Samoan social structures whose flexible yet solid formation has allowed a particularly energetic appropriation of English. 1

Chapter One ·Language, Culture and Text: Theoretical Issues.

English, the language of British imperialism, has pervaded most if not all domains of colonized peoples' lives. The spread of English around the world not only affected individuals' perceptions of themselves and their place, but also their languages and other social practices. The experience of colonialism, and the results of that experience in different countries has not been identical, however, the changes effected from the moment of colonization to the present day were, and continue to be, eclectic and catalytic. Evidence of this is manifest in the appropriation of language as in economic, political and religious terminology together with certain practices such as taxation schemes, national elections and Christian observances. Moreover, post-colonial writing in English shows how the language has been taken over by post-colonial people for their own uses without regard for imperial authority, standards and practices.

A post-colonial theory of literature has therefore emerged from a view of language grounded in an assertion of the importance of practice over code; the importance of the variant over the standard (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 1989). In literary an~lysis, other concerns distance post-colonial theory and practice even further from Eurocentric perspectives: what kinds of writing qualify as 'literature'? What bases do we employ to categorise literary forms? How do we evaluate creative texts? Moreover what are 'texts' in so far as texts impart meanings? Are there also non-written texts? Griffiths states;

The project of the post-colonial text, [on the other hand,] can never lose sight of the determining cultural factors which bring it to being, since it is grounded in a perception of how Self and Other are 2

constituted within a discursive matrix which includes the material forces and institutions of cultural production and reproduction, as well_as the social and political institutions which give rise to these and to which they lend their support. (1995: 237)

The monocenh·ic enterprise of imperialism in this discursive matrix is therefore counteracted by the existence of an 'other• or the imperial'subject.' This co­ existence and subsequent relationship of the two produce cross-cultural hybrid texts, and more pervasively, a hybridizing social dynamic, which are the focus of this study. The issues of language and cultural reality, textuality, hybridity, the myth of authenticity, ambivalence and language as sociai practice provide the theoretical parameters of this study.

(i) Language and Cultural Reality.

An old argument exists that to write in or use the language of the colonizer is to be

immersed in the colonizer's world. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, in Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, maintains that the imposition ~f English as an imperial language promoted through the Education System resulted in colonial alienation of the Mrican child from his own natural and social environment; " .. .it meant the child would now only see the world as seen in the literature of his language of adoption" (1981: 17). Furthermore, "Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world" (17). In contrast, Chinua Achebe asserts that "the English language will be able to carry the weight of my Mrican experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit new African surroundings" (1975: 62).

Similarly, Okara (1963: 15-16) acknowledged that the new versions of English such 3

as American, West Indian, Canadian and New Zealand, all "add life and vigour to the langua&e while reflecting their own respective cultures". The usability of any language for a multitude of purposes is therefore, particularly apparent in the post-colonial use of English. Any language (including the specific language of a particular culture) can be used to express realities which are not bf that culture as well as others that may be personal, collective and culture specific.

Post-colonial writing has shown that the interaction of.different varieties of post­ colonial English with Standard English and older forms 9f oral and literary traditions, assert the cultural and social environment from whence the writing emerges .. Ashcroft refers to this situation as constitutive graphonomy;

The written text is a social situation. That is to say, it has its existence in something more than the marks on the page, namely the participation of social beings whom we call writers and readers, and who constitute the writing as communication of a particular kind, as 'saying' a certain thing. Just as the sociologist attempts to uncover structures and regularities in a social situation, so it is assumed that the meaning of writing is an a priori to be uncovered existing either as a function of the language, or the inscription of something in the mind of the writer, or the reconstruction of the reader's experience. Constitutive graphori.omy, the constitutive ethnography of writing systems, is concerned to e~amine the objective meanings of writing as social accomplishments of these participants. This is because meaning is a social fact which comes to being within the discourse of culture, and social facts as well as social structures are themselves social accomplishments (1989: 58-73).

In other words the meaning of a word is located in its usage, in the way people use it as in the sociolinguistic question Who speaks what to whom and when? (Fishman 1986: 32). Meaning exists "outside the mind, within the engagement of speakers using language. Understanding is achieved at the site of this usage, it resolves the conflict between language, reader and writer over the 'ownership of meaning' " (Ashcroft 1989: 59). Meaning belongs to the. situation of the word and this is most 4 evident in

the post-colonial text which brings language and meaning to a discursive site in which they are mutually constituted, and at this site the importance of usage is inescapable .... the meaning of words is also inextricably tied to the discourse of place. Post-colonial literature has continually shown both the importance of this discourse and the inescapable linking of meaning within the event (64-5).

The argument of constitutive graphonomy therefore, is that the writer and reader functions are as 'present' to each other in the acts of writing and reading as conversants are in conversation. That the writer tries to make meanings out of his or her selection of words implies the presence of the reader function. In other words, when we write we often alternate functions. As a writer, one can also function as a reader by looking at one1s own written text and asking, 11 Now, how does this read? 11 This is in fact, a new ontological event because as reader, one then views the written text within its own discursive site to ascertain what meanings are possible or disclosed there. The writing itself also frees language from the. contingent situation of production that is more obvious in spoken language use. Meaning is therefore established at this discursive site without the constraints of a standard or another controlling force or the cultural baggage or experience, which may seem necessary for some to construct meaning.

Ashcroft (1985; 1989: 68) argues that literature, and particularly narrative, has the capacity to domesticate even the most alien experience. It does not need to reproduce the experience to construct meaning. Herein lies an important element of post-colonial theory of writing and production. Meanings are not predetermined but are created there and then within a sentence or an utterance; within the context of its usage. It is

the place of the word within a meanable context, the grammar or rules which make the context mean~ble but it is also a continuously 5

unfolding horizon which ever more finely articulates the meaning (68).

Therefore, the meaning of an English word or a non-English word within a text is argued to be circumscribed within that text not prescribed from without by a standard or a particular experience because

the standard code will never be able to account for all occasions of language because the meaning and function of languages depend upon practice rather than its codification (Ashcroft 1987:110).

Although a normative code was installed as 'correct' or 'standard' post-colonial writing and other uses of English, show how appropriation produced a multiplicity of English variants which were as deliberate as they were creative in maintaining a strong sense of identity within this discourse. In other words, the opposition between English and Samoan under conditions of colonial power could only produce a stand-off, freezing identity into set stereotypes, or a defeat for the colonised culture. However, appropriative hybridisation, understood as the dynamic production of meaning in interactive situatedness, allowed the creative maintenance of a Samoan identity that was always only meaningful in the moment of communicative (re)construction. This dynamic production of meaning in interactive situatedness, was not restricted to written texts but extended to other non or para-print and non-literary textual material. The establishment of meaning through other communicative modes such as speech and actions in a post-colonial context also employed similar devices (as those used in written texts) to metonymically signal a cultural (situational) difference at the site of production and reception (see following pp.8-15 for a discussion on Textuality).

Meanings are conveyed by those empowered to do so. Despite the destructive effects of English in some post-colonial situations, the availability of English as a 6 language can also be perceived as empowering post-colonial people with the means for wider communication and also the ability to assert their own individuality in an adopted world language.

Widdowson refers to the interpretation of discourse as,

not simply a matter of recovering the presuppositions attaching to individual sentences as they appear in sequence. The linguistic context in which they occur, and the extra-linguistic context of utterance, create presuppositions of a pragmatic kind or 'implicatures1 which can override those which are associated with linguistic forms ....This does not mean that it is not legitimate to investigate the latter: they represent part of the essential knowledge that the language user brings to his understanding of language use. What it does mean, however, is that we cannot assume that meanings, whether explicit or implicit, are carried unchanged into discourse. Discourse is not simply a patchwork of preordained sentential meanings; it is a dynamic process of meaning creation (1985: 128-9).

It is writers and readers, speakers and listeners, anyone who uses language, who imparts or determine meanings, not the given system on its own. Language is a social medium by which individuals may interact, rather than a self sufficient system of unchanging, inner relationships. Post-colonial writing in English may use the language in an unconventional way but is still understood. This different style, or way of using language in writing, also signifies its particular cultural setting and concerns. This identifiable or distinctive cultural element "appropriates the language of the centre while setting itself apart... an insertion of the 'truth' of culture into the text by a process of metaphoric embodiment" (Ashcroft 1989:52- 53). The use of the English language which reveals it as un-typically English or European is

metonymic, a synecdochic index of cultural difference which affirms the distance of cultures at the very moment in which it proposes to bring them together (71). 7

This is the crossing, the junction, the space at which peoples and languages meet to create 'cross-cultural texts' which are hybrid, heterogeneous and authentic. The main feature of post-colonial writing is this difference from the all encompassing homogeneous 'universalism' of the imperial centre. Deleuze and Guattari explain

There is no language in itself, nor any universality of language, but a discourse of dialects, patois, slangs, special languages. There exists no ideal "competent" speaker-hearer of language, any more than there exists a homogeneous linguistic community.... There is no mother tongue, but a seizure of power by a dorriinant tongue within a political multiplicity (1981: 53 cited in Whitlock and Tiffin 1992: 174).

Harris (1983) states that cross-cultural texts are the produCts of the cross-cultural imagination which he refers to as the womb of space wherein there is the capacity to convert and create new life, rather than succumb to the detriment and deprival of 'others'. This is a new wholeness of vision in which the notion of a divided self preempted by the post-colonial becomes a heterogeneous one which promises fertility, creativity and the birth or production of new life that is again metonymic of the post-colonial realisation that has been made possible through a significant use of language in writing and other texts. In literature, some of the devices of difference which are characteristic of the cross-cultural post-colonial texts are; syntactic fusion, neologisms, untranslated lexical items in the text, ethno-rhythmic prose which construct an English discourse according to the rhythm and texture of a first language, and the transcription of dialect and language variants of many different kinds. Zabus (1985: 35-50) agrees with Todd (1982: 303) in a delineation of post-colonial writing as

the relexification of one's mother tongue using English vocabulary but indigenous structures and rhythms.

Two or more languages can co-exist, often under conditions of inequality, in that one is more dominant than the other. Inev~tably, the languages cross within a 8

situation of usage which can result in displacing the dominance of a particular language. English (as is the case in this study) after the 'crossing', becomes hybrid and is no lon.ger the dominant language of the metropolis but also the language of the margins. As illustrated by various post-colonial writers-- English, when 'relexified', is not metropolitan English as it appears on the page or heard in

Standard English speech. It is an English which constantly suggests an 'other' non­ English tongue.

In this study, examples of Western Samoan cross-cultural texts will demonstrate different ways in which Samoans have appropriated the English language and culture. Such texts use the English language in significant ways which reflect its metonymic function through language variance where

... post-colonial writing abrogates the privileged centrality of 'English• by using language to signify difference while employing a sameness which allows it to be understood. It does this by employing language variance, the 'pare of a wider cultural whole, which assists in the work of language seizure whilst being neither transmuted nor overwhelmed by its adopted vehicle (Ashcroft 1978: 51).

In the same vein, Derek Walcott (1974) advocates the appropriation and celebration of the old which supplies the energy of the new. Similarly, Wilson Harris (1983) insists on the 'mutual erosion' of the relationship between the dominated and dominating cultures as the source of the peculiar energy of the

[Caribbean] pos~-colonial experience. In the Samoan context, this study shows that English has also been appropriated in particular ways as part of a dynamic process of meaning creation and of a changing cultural reality. Contrary to the opinion of many about the inescapability of colonial domination and subjugation, it is argued that colonial imperialism in its various forms did not, and has not diminished the resilience of Samoan language and culture. Instead, the English language and other social practices have become part of the Samoan cultural reality. 9

(ii) Textuality:

Etymologically, the text is a tissue, a woven fabric .

... The strands with which it is woven come from codes which are known but their combination is unique ... woven entirely with citations, references, echoes, cultural languages (what language is not?), antecedent or contemporary, which cut across it through and through in a vast stereophony. The intertextual in which every text is held, it itself being the text-between of another text, is not to be confused with some origin of the text: to try to find the 1 sources' the 'influences' of a work, is to fall in with the myth of filiation; the citations which go to make up a text are anonymous, untraceable, and yet already read: they are quotations without inverted commas (Barthes 1977: 159-60).

That they are 1 quotations without inverted commas' points to a fundamental aspect of this approach to the notion of text. The text, as opposed to a work, belongs to no-one. The approach to the interpretation of literary or written texts is no longer inherently locked to the historical or social origins nor the authorship. The focus is on the text itself and what it says. What a literary text says or ineans is grounded in the use of language within that text. To ascertain the meaning of a literary text requires an analysis of the means of communication or that which constitutes the literary text: written words. The various ways in which words are put to use within a text convey the meanings of that text. When we hear or read the words of a sentence we draw meaning from the context of word usage within those sentences which make up that particular text. "No word has 'meaning' outside a context because the uses of the word in different contexts are its meanings" (Ashcroft 1977: 3-14; 1989: 58-73). This fact is evident in any type of language usage. For example, to convey sarcasm or irony requires this awareness of context; certain words and/ or combinations of words in the course of their usage can be ambiguous or can actually mean the opposite in an ironic context. The construction of a sentence with a particular sequence of words creates the 10

syntagmatic meaning. Usage occurs within a situation and meanings are conveyed, received or derived from consideration of this situation within a text instead of its prescribed, literal or as some would have it- inherent meaning. In fact, a word has no inherent or intrinsic meaning. The dictionary entry indicates one of more particular uses, but within the context of speaking and writing it is potentially pluralistic. It may conform to its prescribed definition or it may take on or convey other meanings depending on the context of its usage.

In spoken discourse it is suggested that what the discour~e and the speaker mean frequently overlap- in other words reference is ostensive. In written discourse the author's intention and the meaning of the text is distanced or ceases to coincide. As stated by Ricoeur "The text's career escapes the finite horizon lived by its author" (584). This also concurs with Barthes' notion of 'the death of the author' (1977: 142- 3) whereby the language is the focus of interpretation not the author of the text:

it is language which speaks, not the author; to write is to ... reach that point where only language acts, 'performs', and not 'me'.

Furthermore, the discourse is no longer dialogical in the local and immediate sense or that it addresses only an interlocuter temporally and equally present to the discourse situation. Instead, it opens up to a wider audience- to whoever knows how to read. It also means that understanding is no longer restricted to co­ presence or the face-to-facing of subjects in dialogue.

The written text in this sense manifests the "spirituality of discourse" (Ricoeur 1971: 535-6); it frees us from the visibility and limitation of authorial intentions, meanings and interpretations by opening up a world for us, that is, new dimensions of our being-in-the-world. There are no longer just meanings given by the author/writer or those presumed to be shared by all but other possible interpretations of a text brought about by the references of the text itself. These 11 textual references disclose other possibilities of interpretation, meaning and existence.

The text speaks of a possible world and of a possible way of orientating oneself within it. The dimensions of thi~ world are properly opened up by, disclosed by, the text. Disclosure is the equivalent for written language of ostensive reference for spoken language (558).

According to Ricoeur we therefore make the text our own - we appropriate the text - and in doing so we also appropriate the power of disclosing a world which constitutes the reference of the text (ibid.). Coulthard (1985: 192) states that those working on written discourse have tended to analyse it as monologue and to ignore the fact that as he or she reads, the reader interacts with the text and thus an interactive model might also be appropriate for written discourse. This interactive model does, in fact, refer to a sharability of the text in a sense that it allows participation and appropriation, which in turn, enables a disclosure of knowledge, thus achieving the understanding of meaning. Constitutive graphonomy proposes that the written text is a "social situation in that it involves the participation of social beings whom we call writers and readers who constitute the writing as communication of a particular kind, as 'saying' a certain thing" (Ashcroft: 1989: 34).

The notion of text, in the past, has usually referred to that which is fixed by writing and becomes a subject of interpretation. Now it is proposed that textuality can be more than writing. Furthermore a text and its meaning/ s is certainly not to be identified solely with the work of an author because the 'work' of an author belongs solely to the author and his/her intentions and interpretations of his or her work. However as a text it belongs to no-one- it takes on a new identity as simply, text. Ricoeur's proposition, to consider meaningful action as text, complies with 12

Barthes' explanation that "the text is a tissue, a woven fabric ... The strands with which it is woven come from codes which are known but their combination is unique ... " (1977: 159). The notion of text therefore like tissue and woven fabric is multilayered and pluralistic in its constitution; its meanings are not one but many.

Meaningful action, it is proposed, can therefore also be analysed as text. Its content and meanings can be analysed in the same ways as those ascribed to written texts. Ricoeur (1971: 538-42) argues that action, meaningful action, can be considered as text through a kind of objectification similar to the fixatiqn which occurs in writing. The objectification of meaningful action is considered in the light of the Speech Act theory proposed by Austin (1962: 90-108). In his speech act theory Austin states that the act of speaking is constituted by a hierarchy of subordinate acts which are distributed on three levels:

(1) the level of the locutionanJ or propositional act-- the act of saying

(2) the level of the illocutionary act or force -- that which we do in saying

(3) the level of the perlocutionary act-- that which we do by saying.

These three levels account for the potential of a word or a sentence in its capacity as a speech act. As speech acts, Austin points out that many utterances do not only communicate information but are equivalent to actions. Under certain conditions which validate the statement as when someone says "I promise ... "; "I swear ... "; "I pronounce ... "; Iii name this ship ... "; "I baptize"; the utterance immediately conveys a new psychological or social reality. Such utterances are called 1 performatives1 those which act as distinct from 1 constatives' - statements that only convey information. It would be logical to assume that performatives are central to language practices of an oral society.

That these utterances convey a new psychological or social reality further explain 13

the possibility of meaningful actions qualifying as text because meaningful actions are similar to the structure of the speech act. An action or 'doing' is a kind of utterance or. speech act which has meaning within the social context where it takes place. Action, argues Ricoeur, has the structure of a locutionary act and a propositional content which can be identified and re-identified as the same. Any meaningful action is social action because meaning does not reside in words or actions alone. The meaning comes into existence only when there is an intersection of speaker and listener, sender and receiver, actor and audience, writer or reader or however one may wish to refer to the participants of a social discourse or interaction. It follows that any discourse whether it be verbal, physicat visual or however it is manifested, has a potential for meaningfulness and interpretation. In simple terms -just as we can ask the question "what do you mean by saying that?" so also can we ask "what do you mean by doing that?"

So, just as the written text is freed from the restrictions of ostensive reference, so too does human action transcend the social conditions of its production or the event. The importance of an action may exceed its relevance to the immediate circumstances in which it occurs, and so it may be re-enacted in new social contexts and contribute to the creation of others. Like the written text, human action also has a specific plurivocity which allows it to be construed in a number of ways. In this sense as Ricoeur explains, human action is an open work, for "a work does not only mirror its time, but it opens up a world which it bears within itself" (1971: 544). Human action, too, is opened to anybody who can read it. Human deeds, like works of literature, can have immediate ostensive references which impart their meanings there and then but as well can also have fresh interpretations at another time and place or situation. Actions can leave their 'mark'. They may be visible as in the physical effects of a war on people and a landscape or are remembered 14

through an event, through the person who acted, through participants or

eyewitness~s, through written or oral accounts or through the action itself which can be repeated or become a pattern for everyday life. As Milner (1991: 74) explains in Derridean terms "what one calls ... real life, is itself a text."

Halliday (1978: 1-5) refers to language as a social semiotic. This means that language must be interpreted within a sociocultural context. Language functions both as an expression of, and as a metaphor for, social processes. Language does not consist of sentences; it consists of text, or discourse --.the exchange of meanings in interpersonal contexts of one kind or another. A text therefore is a semantic unit; a text constitutes what can be meant and a meaning is selected from the total set of options made available by the text itself. In other words the meanings of a text are understood within a semiotic structure or what Bernstein (1986: 111) refers to as 'social context'-- a constellation of meanings deriving from the semiotic system that constitutes the culture.

If "a text is what is meant" then it is possible to once again consider Ricoeur' s proposition that meaningful action be considered as text. In the same way that we approach written and spoken texts, meaningful actions as texts are also social situations ... the participation of social beings ... actors and audiences who constitute the actions as 'saying' a certain thing. The texts of culture are made up of speech, writing and actions-- they are texts because they have meanings which are imparted and exchanged -- they are texfs with different layers of meanings in the very sense that Barthes refers to as being a tissue or woven fabric. It is clear from everyday living that words and sentences, spoken and written, are not the only ways to impart meaning. To speak, to dress, to eat, to live in a certain way imparts meaning. In everyday life through actions, modes of expression, dress, advertising strategies or bureaucratic systems; we see evidence or traces of those forces which 15 have influenced our thoughts and actions.

Raymond Williams refers to this everyday life as 'culture'. He insists that

Culture i.s ordinary... A culture is not only a body of intellectual and imaginative work, it is also and essentially a whole way of life. (1958 in Beilharz 1991: 232)

Crocombe (1989: 52) reiterates the same interpretation

Culture can be broadly defined as a way of life - the way we think, believe and behave, as well as the way we make, do and use things. Culture is the way a people express themselves- not only verbally but in dress, life style, beliefs and practices. '

Within any community, social groups can differ in what they adopt as their mode of expression for meaning in any given context. The meaning styles come to be charged with the social value that attaches to these groups themselves. These "sociolinguistic coding interpretations," as Bernstein (1986: 161) called them are as applicable to varieties of speech as they are to writings and other social actions. The texts which I examine in this project are therefore more appropriately identified as texts of culture which are written and spoken and acted out to mean. The meaning of these texts are social accomplishments in themselves.

(iii) Hybridity

No national culture is homogenous. Even our small pre-papalagi cultures were made up of subcultures. Contact with Papalagi and Asian cultures has increased the number of subcultures or lifestyles within our cultures. Many urban lifestyles are now just as much part of our cultures as more traditional ones (Albert Wendt 1976 in Lali 1980: iii).

This is an interesting idea, that people can be "ignorant of" or can "lose their culture." ... the Professor explained the difference between my version and Mead's as being either a result of culture change, or, more likely that I was a modern Samoan who didn•t know my own culture and language very well (Meleisea 1980: 23). 16

The argument proposed by this thesis in relation to Western Samoa is that the co­ existence of colonizing and colonized cultures has resulted in a "cultural hybridity" rather than II dualism." Dualism is a term which suggests a co-existence without interaction. Dualism has been the popular term used to explain cross­ cultural practices of post-colonial existence. For example, Keesing (1934: 408-10) refers to the Samoan's perception of introduced religion and their own lives as being dualistic. Other scholarly writings about post-colonialism by researchers such as Wendt 1965, Davidson 1967, Gilson 1970, Eteuati 1962, Field 1984 all point to the Samoan concern and desire to hold on to their traditional institutions amidst continued changes but the process and the product of their endeavours with this concern in mind has not been perceived as hybrid because such a term connotes impurity and a kind of failure to retain or maintain that which is considered traditional.

The idea of monolithic imperial culture and imperial influence is also a mi~take in that the imperial culture itself could not be monolithic-- Western culture itself is not one homogenous culture but a heterogeneous cultural process. Moreover, when considering the different influences brought about by the imperial powers through colonization in Samoa, it is clear that not only western influences were introduced, but also others through the indentured labourers such as Chinese and Solomon Islanders who were brought into Samoa by the colonialists.l Traditional healing methods from the Solomon Islands have been incorporated into the Samoan medicine. Coined words for food varieties such as sapasui- Samoan chop suey made of local meat and imported noodles and other oriental ingredients; 'German' buns (fashioned after the Berliner bun) made of flour and coconut; and

1 Through intermarriages with Samoans, the descendants of Chinese and Solomon Islanders are today also part of Samoan society. See Meleisea 198Q on Solomon Islanders in Western Samoa and Tom 1985 on the Chinese in Western Samoa. 17 kirikiti - Samoan cricket is an adaptation of English cricket with very distinct Samoan features are evidence of cross-cultural practices confirmed by such terms. Dualism therefore as a descriptive term falls short of the complex interactions which emerged·and continue to take place in post-colonial' Samoa.

Hybridity, on the other hand, is commensurable with abrogation and appropriation which realise the creative potential of intersecting languages, written and spoken texts, and other social or cultural activities. Post-colonial writing defines itself by seizing the language of the centre and re-placing it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonized place through the simultaneous processes of abrogation and appropriation (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 1989: 38). Abrogation, as a refusal of the standardising categories of the imperial culture, and appropriation, as the process by w~ch something such as language is taken as one's own, both signify an undeniable creation of a new hybrid product.

A 'hybrid' occurs principally in botany, when one species is grafted onto another and it produces a different third plant which has properties of both and is therefore neither one nor the other but both or a hybrid. The appropriation of the English language and other post-colonial cultural influences have therefore produced a hybrid Samoan pattern of social intercourse which does not entail a loss or weakening of cultural integrity and identity. The proposal therefore in this research is that the texts which are analysed are not only hybrid but are themselves, metonymic of the hybrid nature of the Samoan post-colonial society itself.

Hybridity as a linguistic and literary strategy is a distinctive feature of post­ colonial use of language. Hybrid meanings and usage are inherently common in any cross-cultural text. Wendt (1995: 4) states: 18

Much of our early literature saw the colonial and the indigenous as in irreconcilable opposition, the colonial as the evil.destroyer; no benefits at all were seen in colonialism or the emergence of blends and mixtures and fusions of the indigenous and the foreign, even though our literature itself is living proof of that.

In the role of language in such cross-cultural texts, Ashcroft (1987) argues, meanings are conveyed in usage or within the situation of a sentence or word in the discourse. For example language variance conveys its difference by usage than by 'existentially' assuming that a cultural difference or message is being sent. Words, sentences do not function in limbo or isolation- they function as and in a social semiotic (Halliday 1978). This is the same concept which Ashcroft (1987:113) refers to as the 'situation' of language use - the linguistic history, the social conditions, the mode of writing, the expected audience and the asserted purposes of the activity. In post-colonial texts these varied uses of language are also representative of the hybrid situation which is both linguistic as well as cultural. A vv-riter writing in English tries to convey the messages and feelings of his/her culture not only by literal, denotative translations but by crossing the two languages or cultures and seeking the best possible form of expression. It may be the insertion of non-English words or idioms, colloquial neologisms or syntactic fusions of various kinds or the description of a landscape which simply unfolds that difference. This point of cross-cultural fertility, imagination or creativity which produce such potent hybrid forms has been referred to as the 'gulf of silence', 'aphasic cultural gulf' (Ashcroft 1988: 58-59) 'moment of interface' (1987: 112), and by Harris (1983) as the 'third space' or the 'womb of space'. The varieties of language usage emerging therefore are referred to as:

metonymic, a synechdochic index of cultural difference which affirms the distance of cultures at the very moment in which it proposes to bring them together (Ashcroft 1988: 57). 19

It is also metaphoric in the literal sense that this hybrid language usage is symbolic or represen!ative of the users of language themselves, in terms of their cultural experience and social activity.

(iv) The myth of Authenticity

One had to be honest, even in paradise. (Albert Wendt)

Monolithic constructs of Samoan culture that serve to valorize what is seen as the authentic, ancient, original are problematic in the light of e:reryday life. Meleisea (1980: 16-18) suggests that:

This has been because of European interest in 'traditional' Samoan society rather than the modern society which has been influenced heavily by European institutions. Samoans have become culturally self-conscious as a result and young people in Samoa tend to think of their 'culture' as being something ancient and incomprehensible instead of the pattern of their own lives.

Pacific Island Art has also come to be defined by those objects which can be placed in a glass case, or measured and illustrated in glossy books. It has been evaluated by outside rather than inside eyes and thus the cry "you are losing your traditional culture" has been an expression of sadness at the loss of items valued by outsiders.

Tupua Tamasese Taisi (1993: 31) Samoan statesman and writer refers to

a Victorian prudishness on the national psyche; to an extent where we have acquired a colossal hang-up about ourselves and our culture. We have succumbed to a sanitized version of Samoan history whether alien or indigenous authored because it portrays an idealised Samoa. There is a strong sentiment about defending this idealisation.

Regina Atualevao Meredith (1993:17-18) Samoan artist and teacher observes:

The state of the traditional arts (in Samoa) is clear. There have been varying degrees of alterations and modifications. The authenticity of the art forms in their purest sense have been affected by the wants 20·

and needs of the society. The changes and the acceptance thereof have been permitted by the culture.

In discussing hybridity, it is inevitable that the myth of authenticity should be its . . twin theme. The first term connotes multiplicity, plurivocity, 'impurity'. The second; genuineness, an essence or distilled trueness, a stamp of validity and legitimacy-- in popular terms- 'the real thing'; 'the real Me Coy'' whatever it may be -- a person, a work of art, a way of speaking, acting or other forms of expression.

The question underlying this study is: "what are the categories which determine the reality or authenticity of an individual or society which is heterogeneous?" All post-colonial societies are hybrid by virtue of their past experience which also includes pre-colonial contact. More crucial is the question: "who is authentic?" Critics such as Homi Bhabha, Wilson Harris and Edward Said have advocated that such questions only serve to recapture colonial strategies which intended to separate (divide and conquer) that, in being categorised as Other one wasn't quite right or wasn't quite white and would conveniently never be allowed to be.

The dilemma of hybridity and authenticity has prompted various responses. Brydon, in her article The White Inuit Speaks: Contamination as Literan; Strategt;; (1991), refers to a differentiation of post-colonial peoples in Canada; a claim that only native Canadians are the authentic voice of this nation, with the implication that descendants of settlers and immigrants represent at best, a contaminated post­ coloniality. Brydon suggests that whilst upholding such untainted authenticity as strategies to seek land rights and political power, such tactics encourage native peoples to isolate themselves on the margins and from contemporary life and full citizenhood. She also points to the current flood of books by white Canadian writers embracing Native American spirituality so as to fulfill a need to feel at 21

home in Canada and to assuage the guilt felt over a material appropriation by making it a cultural one as well..The image of the white Inuit is clearly a hybrid one as is American, German, New Zealand or Australian Samoan as is also any modern day Samoan whose different parental, geographic'al, political and other legacies of difference further contaminates the myth of cultural purity or authenticity.

Macpherson (1985: 242) records different Samoans' views relating to their perceptions of themselves as Samoans growing up or ha:ring experienced life away from Samoa. An adolescent woman refers to her life in New Zealand where she was brought up by Samoan parents to be Samoan but when she visited Samoa

It was like another world. The other kids of our age called us Palagi [European] and some of them gave us a hard time, because of the way we spoke Samoan and because we couldn't paddle a paopao [canoe] in a straight line. I felt pretty stupid and thought it was funny that we were Samoans in New Zealand and Palagis in Samoa" (250).

An article by Fee (1988) entitled "Why C. K. Stead didn't like Keri Hulmes's The Bone People: Who can write as Other?" is partly a response to New Zealand critic C. . K. Stead's (1985) challenge to Keri Hulme's claim to being a Maori writer. The discussion therefore extends to strategies of identification and categorisation which either exclude or include. Fee states that Stead's opposition to Hulme's identity as a Maori writer highlights crucial questions about how authenticity is established and what categories determine that authenticity. The categories range from biological to cultural to linguistic. There is also the range of reasons behind different categories, for example, to safeguard against the frequent facile exploitation of indigenous material by white writers -- in other words, a form of neo-colonialism -- whereby the adoption of an indigenous voice enables white writers to make 'literary land claims' that naturalize white appropriations of 22

literary indigenous land (29). Fee argues further that another reason why White writers assume Native identities is to avoid guilt which emerges from past

ancestors1 dispossession of indigenous peoples- however this 'identification' says Fee has been a tactic adopted to avoid guilt rather than comprehend difference (27).

On the other hand 'indigenous' writers are not all one and the same or homogenous as it were, in their claims to authenticity. For example several New Zealand Maori writers write in English only, yet, their Maori identity is not stringently questioned as is Keri Hulme's, partly because their biological and social background is so strongly Maori. Hulme's Maori blood, as described by Stead, is "eight grandparents, one only was Maori" but to which Hulme claims as "my tipuna, taha Maori taha Pakeha" (16) and in The Oxford Anthologtj of Ne·w Zealand Writing since 1945 (1983: xx) she is described as of Ngai Tahu, Orkney Scots, and English descent.

This is an example of the discourse of authenticity -- who has the right to speak I perform I write what to whom and when. The other question is: what conditions determine such rights? The same question is an issue in Fiji where mixed blood Fijians can only qualify as authentic Fijian if their father and paternal grandparents are Fijian (Islands Business Pacific Feb. 1992: 20). This is also an electoral law which in effect discriminates against others who claim to be Fijian through their maternal line or through birthright, residency or citizenship. It is therefore clear that such conditions are not inherent but are created by people's attitudes and beliefs regarding each other as separate 'others'. Witi Ihimaera, as editor of Te Ao Marama - Contemporan; Maori Writing points out "Our major dilemma has been... significantly, deciding what actually constitutes Maori writing. . .. the overriding response is very quickly to label the writer as being a Maori writer and therefore 23 one who brings an authoritative Maori perspective. This is particularly puzzling since it does not happen, in quite the same way, to Pakeha writers" (1992: 17). The question is whether Maori writing is that dealing only with Maori issues or whether it is any work written by Maori. The view endorsed in this particular publication was that "If the writer has Maori ancestry, his or her work has been considered regardless of content" (17) and thereby also including works by Maori writers dealing with non-Maori topics. This approach, according to Ihimaera has also expanded the notion of what is possible for Maori writers to write about.

Albert Wendt refers to himself as a 'mongrel' in terms of his hybrid genetic makeup, cultural background and ideological beliefs. As a Samoan he has written only in English, although his use of this language conveys a knowledge and competence in his own mother tongue. In some of his works he has hit out at those who profess purity and authenticity but in practice mean racism and discrimination of various kinds.

To advocate that in order to be a 'true Samoan', for example, one must be 'fully blooded Samoan' and behave/ think/ dance/ talk/ dress/ and believe in a certain prescribed way (and that the prescribed way has not changed since time immemorial) is being racist, callously totalitarian, and stupid. This is a prescription for cultural stagnation (Wendt 1976: 1).

Harris (1983) similarly states that homogeneity as a cultural model, exercised by a ruling ethnic group, tends to become an organ of conquest and division because of an imposed unity that actually subsists on the suppression of others. This is explained clearly by Petersen and Rutherford who explain that,

identity is part of an infinite movement, that one can only come to in a dialogue with the past and future ... totalitarian identity was the extreme function of the Nazis. One must be prepared to participate in the immense and specific challenges of a wider community (1986: 9). 24

Trinh T. Minh-Ha states similar concerns when she claims that,

There· cannot be any grand totalizing integration without massive suppression, which is a way of recirculating the effects of domination.... the risk of totalitarianism is always present and one would have to confront, in whatever capacity one has, the controversial values likely to be taken on faith as universal truths by one's own culture(s) (1995: 218)

Davidson (1967: 229) records the options available to Samoans of mixed parenthood during preparations towards independence: such individuals could choose whether to identify with their Samoan parenthood "!Jy taking on matai titles and registering in the Samoan electorate, or retain their part Chinese, European or 1 other' status and register as Individual voters. The 1 authenticity' of their claims and choice to register on either roll was validated but such choices were not absolute. For example, part European or Chinese Samoans who took on Samoan identity in the form of matai titles did not, nor were required to, fully relinquish their European or Chinese links. Children of such matai may retain their non­ Samoan surnames. In various cases children of the same family do not have the same last name as some would take on their father's matai title or their father's Samoan first name as their last name and some would take on their European or Chinese surname.2

If "nations are narrations" (Bhabha 1991), the multitude of such practices are indicative of different forms of hybridity which are part of a society (such as Samoa) widely believed to be homogenous. The myth of authenticity is therefore

2 Reference is made to Michael Meredith and Thomas Nauer (also cited in Davidson, 1967: 229,354 and Meleisea, 1987:176) who changed to Lauofo Meti and Tofa Tomasi respectively. Today their children continue to retain their European surnames although both names are often used interchangeably in various contexts. Samoans encompass and acknowledge their different 'parts' or 'sides' in different ways and identifying with one relationship one does not necessarily deny the other. An important part of the socialisation process is knowing how one is connected to others especially through kinship which forms the basis o~ knowing one's extended family both matrilineally and patrilineally. A person looks after and identifies in different ways with her or his family links. 25

important in this study because the creation of cross-cultural texts themselves implies a dismantling of purist notions of language, institutions, individuals, groups and whole societies. The deeper significance of such a false notion as authenticity is utilised in post-colonial discourse to show how its full realisation as a myth can dismantle monocentric narrations and divisive beliefs upheld and imposed by former and current imperial powers, but just as likely to be taken on by other groups such as 'the indigenous' or those who regain power through political independence.

This question of authenticity therefore addresses itself both to language and culture. The use of the English language by post-colonial writers does not make them any less 'culturally original' because their use of the English language can and does re-affirm a distancing from that imperial centre from whence their choice of language originated. The use of English by post-colonial writers clearly attests to the fact that culture is not a property of language, and that to express things Samoan one can only do so in Samoan. This is further elaborated by popular assertions that a true (authentic) or deeper understanding of a language and culture is accessible only to those who are native speakers, moreover that authentic Samoan identity requires selective racial, linguistic and social components. This is indeed a sensitive issue for Samoan society which is known for holding fast to its language, culture and identity. Post-colonial use of English by Samoans shows that their use of English can also reflect their identification with their own cultural group. Samoan as a language however, also appropriates a wide range of other influences, linguistic and otherwise. Moreover, as a result of large scale migration, Samoans are also living in different cultures and speaking different languages (mainly English) throughout the world and by maintaining links with Samoa their influence can also prevail upon Samoan society causing it to change in different 26

ways.

(v) Ambiva-I.enc.e

Post-colonial theory sees ambivalence as an inevitable and not necessarily disabling feature of post-colonial cultures. Ambivalence is the co-existence of oppositions and it is not surprising that such a condition should prevail in a post­ colonial context because the imposition of one system upon another does not necessarily result in annihilation of the latter. Rather a continuing interaction between the two will occur in both manifest or covert ways, sometimes in a struggle which shows ..the hybrid situation as one of unequal power relations. Ambivalence therefore acknowledges the fact that colonial discourse is an interchange, rather than a one-way imposition by the imperial colonizer upon the supposedly, submissive, powerless colonized. Theorists of colonial discourse such as Homi Bhabha and Edward Said (among others) have shown how certain colonial strategies have attempted to secure and stabilize a falsely essentialist view of the world or a view of reality which negates or suppresses alternative views which might endanger the priviledged position of its Western/imperial perceiver. The ambivalence of colonial discourse is therefore expressed in mimicry which is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as subject of a difference that is almost the same but not quite (Bhabha1984: 126).

In Signs taken for Wonders (1994: 119) Bhabha suggests the reading of ambivalence in colonial cultural texts as an estrangement of the word from the medium for example, the Bible/word of God disconnected from the medium of the English language and its agents. He explains this through an incident in which the Bible is translated into Hindustani and the Indians unexpectedly interpret it into the context of their own culture. This is contrary to the colonialist expectation that 27

their word will be inculcated and 'lessen the dependence of the native on their own

religious a~d cultural traditions' (118). However, the Indianised gospel, now hybrid in its context of use and interpretation, resists total acceptance of the imperial word 6n the grounds of Indian cultural practices 'and beliefs. Indians query the origin of the Bible and indirectly question those who profess to be the authority on the 'given' text: How can tire word of God come from the flesh-eating mouths of tlre English? How can it be the European Book, when we believe that it is God's gift to us? He sent it to us at Hurd·war (116).

The natives are 'not at home' (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 1986: 83) with certain aspects of Christianity hence a specific space of cultural colonial discourse emerges whereby their differences which had been disavowed (by the imperial desire for a uniform self) come into play and thereby make the presence of authority uncertain. Hence they are almost, but not quite what they ought to be in as far as the imperial power is concerned, because they may take the form of multiple or contradictory belief, as in some forms of native knowledges: "We are willing to be baptized, but we will never take the Sacrament" (120). The myth of colonialist power is therefore dismantled in its demand that the space it occupies be unbounded, its reality coincident with the emergence of an imperialist narrative and history, its discourse non-dialogic, its enunciation unitan;, unmarked by the trace of difference (115).

Colonial authority is therefore not reinforced as expected through the creation of this 'other' which is recognisable therefore presumed to be controllable. Instead, this recognisable 'other' is not the same nor totally powerless but actually a hybrid form which mimics colonial authority with its own. By producing ·a set of deceptive, derisive similarities, mimicry counters the authority of colonial representation, which deems to be homogenous and 'fixed'. Imperialist texts, therefore, whether they were religious, political or literary are thereby dismantled 28 and dispossessed of their purported, absolute authority at the colonial periphery through ambivalence and mimicry; ambivalence, in that whilst an imperial agenda is supposediy 'in place' so also is the 'Empire' of the local (Ferrier 1992: 157-168); mimicry, in that instead of being the same, it is, in fact, not quite. Such a condition also reaffirms that colonial discourse is an interchange, rather than a one way imposition.

This is applicable to all given texts, how they are interpreted and how they fare or are manipulated in the places within which they are received. Just as the book retains its presence, it is, however, no longer a representation of an essence, it is now a partial presence, a (strategic) device in a specific colonial engagement, wherein hybrid texts are thereby created.

(vi) Language as Social Practice

The linguistic concept of discourse as a language event or linguistic usage ~akes priority in social practice as opposed to language systems or linguistic codes. Language as a system is virtual and outside of time as Ricoeur asserts. Language itself lacks a subject, and refers only to other signs within the same system. Therefore it lacks "a world just as it lacks temporality and subjectivity" (Ricoeur 1971: 531). Indeed, language systems provide codes for communication but in themselves languages do not exchange messages. It is through discourse as a language event that messages are exchanged through language code usage. It is in the language event that the worldliness (Said 1983) of the text is confirmed. Discourse as a language event is temporal, it happens within a time frame. It has a subject and refers to a world which it claims to describe, express or represent. It has an 'other'; an interlocutor to whom it is addressed or exchanges messages with. Discourse as a language event is therefore essentially social practice- it requires 29

people to make it take place.

Yet we see that language itself is in some senses "worldly." Linguistic research

undertaken by ~ernstein (1971) and Labov (1966) shows tl-1-at variations in language are on-going attributes of the social system. They not only express the diversity of social structures or hierarchies but also the diversity of social processes which are on going, interwoven and reflected by language choices. Labov shows how variation in the linguistic system is functional in expressing variation in social status and roles. Bernstein's notion of restricted and elab9rated codes (in Hudson 1987:214-219) argues that the semiotic systems of a culture"become differentially accessible to different social groups thereby creating or maintaining inequalities. Both Labov and Bernstein concur with Halliday that

language actively symbolizes the social system, representing metaphorically in its patterns of variation the variation that characterises human cultures (Halliday 1986: 3).

Sanko££ (1980 in Ochs 1988: 227) refers to the 'social life of language' that is, the web of meanings, goals, actions, and conditions language helps to weave. Hymes (1964) introduced the notion of communicative competence encompassing both the speaker's knowledge of the linguistic rules as well as the sociocultural rules for appropriate use. This points to the fact that effective communication involves the processing of social as well as linguistic knowledge. Gumperz (1971) is similarly concerned with this relationship between language and society as indicated in his observation of correlations between social structure and linguistic structure.

Fishman (1971) shows the different social relationships and overlapping of domains of language behavior by looking ~t language in terms of 'who speaks what to whom and when'. Geertz (1960) explains how language operates in the etiquette system as in Javanese society where it is nearly impossible to say 30 anything without indicating the social relationship between speaker and listener in terms of stat_us and familiarity. Similarly, Ervin Tripp (1969) refers to sociolinguistic rules of address as part of acculturation and an indicator of social and linguistic competence. Goodenough1s (1965) study on deference shows how choices of pronouns, names or titles as well as tone of voice and grammatical forms can achieve certain degrees of social distance. These sociolinguistic rules of address can also operate inter-language wise as in the language switching amongst bilinguals which may be employed to avoid (or indicate) rank signalling (Howell 1967; Tanner 1967).

Other studies have concentrated on the use of linguistic variables to indicate the speaker1s degree of group membership as in Labov' s (1966) study of the social stratification of English in New York where the social aspirations of certain individuals might lead them to change their accents to approximate that of the social group to which they want to belong. A further study by Labov (1972.in Hudson 1987: 172) identifies the syntactic use of zero copulas3 among certain Black adolescent groups in Harlem. This illustrates the way in which linguistic variables may be exploited by speakers as subtle or overt symbols of the strength of their group membership; in this case one based on race.

Milroy and Margrain (1978 in Hudson 1987: 178) refer to a closed network, which emerges as the result of people having more contact with other members of the same network than with people outside it. This affects the kinds of relations they have, for example in a traditional working-class area, ties of friendship, work, neighbourhood and kinship will all reinforce one another. In belonging to such a

3 A distinctive feature of the speech of Black adolescents as opposed to white adolescents is the inclusion of the 'zer0 copula' whereby the copula verb 'be' is deliberately omitted. For example in a sentence where a white speaker would say 11 John is tired 11 or 11John looks tired 11 or use a contracted 's1 11 11 as in "John's tired"; black speakers use the zero variant or zero copula as in John tired • 31

closed network, people are very closely constrained by its behavioural norms and

there is als~ a high degree of conformity in speech and language behavior.

Goffman (in Giddens 1989: 103; 1990: 109-139; Alexander 1.990: 113) refers to the concept of social role explained through a dramaturgical model whereby social life is seen as though played out by actors on a stage or many stages of different times and places. Like the stage, Goffman points out that life can be divided into front and back regions. Front regions are formal, stylised social occasions or encounters­ on stage performances. The back regions are back stage performances where people relax and give vent to feelings and styles of behavior which they keep in check when on front stage. The use of language is as much a part of this impression management as other kinds of actions and behavior. Choice of language or language usage has also been found to be gender affected as in the findings of Lako££ (1973) and others. Not only have there been found to be differences in language use indicating 'Goffmanian' impression management but also such varied uses have also often reflected unequal power structures between men and women in different societies.

oOo

As demonstrated by the various studies cited in this discussion, language as a social activity is therefore flexible, hybrid, ambivalent. It is ambivalent in that as a system it has a rigid structure which is reinforced by prescriptive practices which conform to the system. However, on the other hand as shown in this study, language as a social activity is adaptable to the situation within which it is used. As a social activity it has the nature of mutability which is governed by the context of usage, and therefore, as expressed by Chomsky

Normal use of language is not an exercise of any habit or skill. Typically, use of language is creative in the senSe that it constantly involves the 32 production and interpretation of new forms~ new in the experience of the language user or even in the history of the language. This is not an exotic phenomenon, but rather the norm (Chomsky 1995: 328). 33

Chapter Two Dynamism and Resilienc;e: ·. Samoan Social Structures and Cultural Change

An examination of Samoan society and its post-colonial history provides

remarkable evidence of that appropriating dynamic which enables it to absorb a wide variety of colonizing influences in virtually all areas of life. The social structure, law, religion, stories and performances all re~eal a society able to adapt a wide variety of cultural practices with resilience and flexibility. Partly because of the strength of its structures but also because of the protean nature of its social dynamism, the force of imperial discourse was absorbed with remarkable adaptability in many aspects of Samoan life.

Faa-Samoa: The Resilience of the System

The aiga or extended family forms the basis of a vast network called faa Samoa or the 'Samoan way', which constitutes the means by which all Samoans relate to their tuaa - ancestors, their matai -chiefs, their nuu - village, their itu malo - district, their suii -descendants and their uo ma e masani - friends, acquaintances and outsiders. The threads of such a network as faa Samoa weave different kinds of relationships which are put into perspective and dealt with accordingly. In the oratorical genre, a common expression is;

Faigata Samoa o le i 'a e ivivia.

Literally this means that Samoa is as complex as a fish with many fine bones. In the context of a formal oration it refers to the intricacy and multifariousness of honorifics which place a person or group in a specific relation t<;> others. The metaphor of the fish with many fine bones may be, in one situation, a caution 34 for utmost care in a delicate matter, or it may be an indirect apology for dealing inadequately with a complex situation (such as adequately acknowledging the presence aJ.l.d place of a person or a group). The harmonious interplay between people referred to as va fealoai is therefore highly regarded in faa Samoa relationships because knowing one's social relationship to others enables one to play one's role correctly, thereby maintaining social equilibrium. This concept of distance or va is crucial to the Samoan personality and the Samoan framework or faa Samoa. John Kneubuhl explains it thus:

The space between two people is not, as with th~ Papalagi, empty; the space is a distancing and it defines the relationship, it is the relationship. From the time we were children, we were taught to respect that space, that va. It is the foundation of all our good manners; it is the foundation of all our important ceremonies. There is a Samoan social rule that says it all Teu le va. That injunction has two meanings. In times of trouble, it means that we put away the differences between us. However, at all times, it means that we must tend (as we tend, say, a garden) the spaces between us. 'Come closer' is balanced by 'Keep your distance' (1985: 4).

The Matai

One is a matai by virtue of holding an alii or a tulafale title, or in some situations one can hold both. Several people may also hold the same title as long as bestowal is agreed to by the Sa'o- the highest title holder and the affiliated aiga or family of a particular title. Conferred titles are also registered in the Land and Titles Government Department. Matai titles are, in general, role specific. Matai tulafale are the speakers and weavers of words and wield much power whilst Matai Alii confirm links to aristocratic lineages with sacred origins from Tagaloa-a-lagi the creator.

When a person becomes a matai his/her first or birth name becomes secondary. For example an untitled person named Fiso becomes Toomalatai Fiso after receiving the matai title Toomalatai. A matai promotes family unity and 35

prestige, protects and administers family lands, resolves conflicts amongst family members and between family members and others. He/She also represents.the family in the village fono or council of matai.

The matai is the family, the family is the matai. This collective identity underpins a communal support system which accounts for each individual in the village. Every person belongs to a group in the village and from birth is socialized into learning the different roles which he or she needs to perform in order to function within and to maintain that system. When a person does well, the members and matai of that family and village also take credit, since one's good reputation extends to one's village and family. In the same way, hardship and trouble for an individual are shared by the family and village. A Samoan is seen by the rest of Samoan society --not only as an individual-- but as a part of the whole Samoan framework. Shore refers to Samoan society as a 'gem' in that it is many faceted and its "richness comes from multiplying sides ... " (1982: 141)

Throughout his life a Samoan adds to his repertory new potential name segments, thereby enriching and multiplying his identity. Significantly, while names are easily added, they are, like all parts of a person, rarely lost. They remain as potential sides of a person (148).

For example, although birth certificates may remain unchanged for bureaucratic purposes, a person in Samoa may be known and addressed by a variety of names. One may hold several matai titles but the particular form of address on any particular occasion will depend upon the context. The village or family from which a particular title stems will address the person by that m.atai title. As well as these matai titles, individuals and groups may also be addressed by general but recognised references which also acknowledge their identity in terms of their village or district, their social position, or their family. Roman Catholic Samoans, with Saints' names as Baptismal second names, will often use these as their school names distinct from first names used at home 36

which are often Samoan family names. Hence a girl named Moana at home may well be called Theresa or Mary Magdalen (or in translation Telesia or Malia

Matalena r~spectively) at the Convent school. Others may use different first names at school and in their work place to those at home and non-Samoan surnames are used interchangeably with matai titles to ensure that these features of identity are all-faa ola -kept alive. From an early age Samoans become attuned to conditions of constant change. The appropriation of names and different roles are only one facet of this constant adaptation which in general revolves around a central consideration of the relation between self and other no matter how complex. Shore further explains;

To complicate and to elaborate are, in Samoa, to celebrate the faa Samoa, to enrich a world understood as multi-dimensional. Like a person, the social world is understood in terms of its contexts. The whole is not reducible to any simple monad, for such a simplification of structure is a kind of death. Life is a process of elaboration, understanding life means both creating and grasping that complexity. Such elaboration is a challenge to find a proper place for each variant such that the new are an increment of the old rather than a displacement. Elements are added, rarely are they dropped. They are simply held in reserve. (170)

Clearly then, Samoan society presents a dynamic structure well attuned to the productive appropriation of new elements such as the English language. But in some senses all societies are dynamic and changing and enact such changes without diluting their sense of cultural integrity. This is particularly true of Samoa because of the nature of its social structure. Whether interest arises out of fame, notoriety or general curiosity, the questions about a Samoan by another Samoan are basically the same:

Oai? 0 aile igoa? 0 ai Zona aiga? 0 fea Zona nuu? 37

-Who? What is her/his name? Which is his/her family? Where is her/his village? The answers to these questions not only impart the importance of kinship w~ich is the source of the initial sense of belonging but also the connectedness of a complex social structure which answers the basic but vital question 0 ai oe? Who are you?

The Samoan sense of Self

woP I

nationI!

~distrJct extended fmnlly ~age~ Within each of these groupings from the nuclear to the national level are the matai who are not only symbols of identity but are also responsible for maintaining solidarity within each and between different groups. People define themselves and are identified by others by their family name, their village. Each family name and village is part of an affiliation of matai specific to that family and village. There are various other kinship connections which are traced by matai lineages and thereby clearly link one family or village to another.

Ideally, the matai system is a matrix within which power and responsibility are exercised for the general good of the community rather than solely for the individual. At the village level, all are accounted for, are under the power of and are cared for by the Matai System which is adhered to and believed to be sanctioned by God. Many traditional proverbs attest to this as well as lyrics of modern, popular songs._One of these songs states Na tofia e le Atua Samoa ina ia pulea e matai- God chose Samoa to be governed by matai. In 38

many hymns and prayers God is also referred to as Lo matou matai ile lagi - Our matai in heaven. This is a good example of how an adopted discourse of belief can be appropriated almost seamlessly to support existing social structures. The

following dia~am summarises the traditional divisions o~ the extended family which are all centred upon the Faamatai or the Matai System. The different groupings are not totally separate bodies because they are all linked to the system by virtue of their affiliation and service to the matai.

The Faamatai

AUALUMA FALETUA MA TAUS! FAIAVA& NOFOTANE (Daughters of the Village) ( Wives of Matai) (In-Marrying Spouses) ~ t

FA'AMATAI (A System of Village Administration )

I

AUMAGA ALI'! & TULAFALE T Al\'L<\.ITI (Untitled Males) (Matai) (Children)

(Adapted from Keesing 1956: 53; Shore 1982: 59-70; Aiono 1986:104, Meleisea 1987: 5-16).

All innovations and changes in Samoa impact on this traditional structure of the Matai system which has been in existence since pre European times. All matai, therefore, are title holders and heads of the respective families- aiga; villages­ nuu; and districts- itu malo from which these matai titles originate. Matai constitute the Village Fono or Council which governs the village by establishing rules and regulations, punishing local offenders, resolving disputes on a regular basis and acting as a forum for all matters of importance to the village. 39

Individuals in a family may hold one or several titles of different rank and origin (matrilineal or patrilineal) but senior titles are recognised as giving an aiga its prqper identity. For example whilst there are many matai titles in a particular family they could all be linked under the main family title.

This identity is the essential component and purpose of Jaalupega or genealogical rendition of each person in relation to his or her ancestral matai, village and district. Faalupega therefore forms an integral part of formal greetings which recognises and places a person or a group within their family and place of origin. To know the identity of a person or group of people also means one can place them in relation to her or himself and to others. All formal speeches therefore will also initially refer to faalupega because the identity of speakers and listeners creates an environment of orderly spaces or distances in the expressed knowledge that everyone is aware of all the participants and their place or social standing in a communicative discourse. The seating arrangement in the village fono will also reaffirm these divisions. In both formal and · informal situations where one does not know the name or title of a person or persons, he/ she/ they may be addressed by reference to their family title or a senior title associated with their village or district.

Different titles are accorded different rank and prestige and traditionally bestowed upon both men and women after service to the older matai and the extended family. Matai titles are now also granted to migrant claimants for example from Australia, New Zealand and the United States who render their services through monetary and material remittances for the welfare of the family and village. This conferring of matai titles to migrants is also an adaptation which acknowledges the inevitability of migration and enables Samoans overseas to maintain faa Samoa and keep links with home. However, in recent court decisions over matai title disputes, migrant matai who have won 40

the cases have been required by the Samoan Lands and Titles Court to reside in Samoa rather than ruling and fulfilling their village and family responsibilities from afar:Senior matai are the custodians of the aiga estate and allocate rights to use sections of land for individual cultivation among members of the aiga Many also work and live in town usually on leased or freehold land. These matai commute regularly, because their attendance in the Village Fono is vital to their status as leaders and their presence is important in general village administration.

As an institution, the Fono is seen by Samoans as representing the complex hierarchical social structure of the Samoan society. One's identity is personal as well as social. Knowledge of the social structure of Samoa inherent in faalupega, means knowledge of others and oneself, including the different places and groups into which one fits and the different roles which one plays within that framework. Although only matai may participate in the fono in general the outcome of various meetings will be known by word of mouth or broadcast if necessary.

This Village Fono or council of chiefs is vested with the authority and responsibility of decision-making and seeing that decisions are carried out. Within their own traditionally verbal deliberations they concede power, make compromises and weigh different opinions and alternatives. Their main focus is social harmony- ensuring that peaceful social relationships are. established and maintained within their family, village and district jurisdictions. Deliberations may take only one meeting or several days because the aim is not for a majority vote but consensus.

Samoan names and titles are not gender restricted although the majority of matai are men. Women of rank and age q.re often consulted as suli -­ desceRdants or heirs to a title-- but often they will not take on titles in 41

deference to their brothers or other male kinsmen. The feagaiga or traditional kinship bond between brothers and sisters also results in this particular stance

amongst ~any women because men are committed in turn to look after their sisters' interests as well. Since Independence in 1962, more women have taken on titles for voting purposes rather than to actively participate in the Fono or election into Parliament. At present there are two women in Parliament, one of whom is the Minister of Education, Fiame N. Mataafa. Women•s participation at village level is organised through two categories:

the aualuma:- widows, spinsters, unmarried women and wives of untitled men.

the tausi andfaletua- the wives of matai tulafale and alii respectively.

From these two categories they unite into the village Women's Committee or disperse into other smaller groups affiliated with church, education, health, fund raising, domestic and farming enterprises, business ventures and other

working groups. Career women, regardless of their professional status ~re also incorporated into these traditional categories as recorded by Tauaa-Matalavea (1991) in her study Women and Development: A Case Study ofWestern Samoa. However their professional knowledge and standing is utilised and acknowledged when appropriate. The Samoan proverb E au le inailau a tamaitai ae le au le inailau a alii acknowledges how women surpass men in different roles even those which traditionally belonged to men such as the weaving of roofing thatch for houses. Weaving is an important symbol in Samoa because, not only is it an important task for the material welfare of a village, but also, the individual and/ or communal weaving of different knowledges, skills and strengths brings about success and stability.

The male equivalent of the aualuma is the aumaga. The aumaga are the young, untitled men who also render service to the matai as well as the family and the village. Under this category are also the in-marrying untitled men from other 42 villages. They are like apprentices, observing, learning, serving and waiting for their turn to qualify as matai.

All groups· and individuals within these groups have specified village and family roles within particular divisions but will also operate in other roles- for example in their professional capacity. Although there is much prestige to be attained in the village by one1s professional status or any other non traditional role, in certain situations where traditional protocol is to be observed, the faa matai hierarchy presides. At certain times, such as ceremonial occasions, an important person without a matai title is addressed by her or his associated village or family matai title, just as a formality, to fit in with the convention of acknowledging one's presence and identity through the matai hierarchy.

The Maintenance of Faa Samoa: Social Behaviour, Social Structure and Language Use.

The continuing importance of faa matai in all aspects of Samoan life, ensures that the fono or village council is indispensable, and even more so because it operates as a traditional institution of government with executive, legislative and judiciary functions.! Faa matai also points to the responsibility for safeguarding the village and family lands as well as upholding the rank of families and villages in various contexts. J.W. Davidson, constitutional adviser to the government of Western Samoa from 1959-62, observed that

The traditional system of control was still a living one, susceptible to growth and change, not merely the fossilized remains of an old system of privilege. This was, indeed, the firm basis of Samoan political stability (1967: 22).

lMead 1930; Keesing 1934, 1956; Davidson 1967; Gilson 1970; Shore 1977; Duranti 1981a; 1981b; 1984; 1989; Holmes

1986; Larkin 1971; Meleisea 1987; O'Meara 1990. 43

This remains the case today. For example, the small national police force are more effective in the village setting when they work co-operatively with the

matai. In t~e villages, the fono or councils of matai deal regularly with offences which go against prescribed village rules and disrupt village harm

leaders or youth. Such incidents disrupt the ideal social har~ony or fealofani ma le va fealoai - good relations and accessible distances among various components of the social system-- individuals, families, sub-villages, villages, districts.

The act of meeting, talking and deliberating is also referred to as 'fono' because the use of language frames relationships between social actors and events in both mundane interaction and those political and legal processes that constitute the system. Duranti shows that agency or the causal relationship between participants, actions and certain states of affairs or processes is grammatically expressed in Samoan political discourse. He argues that "different grammatical expressions are connected not only to different points of view or frames (Fillmore 1968,1975, 1977) but more fundamentally, to local political praxis" (1989: 646-7). Similarly, Shore refers to the "way in which they [Samoan terms] are used to expand or contract the flexible boundaries of a group, according to context" (1977: 139).

This linguistic encoding of agency is an important aspect of the politics of representation in any community, because there is a need to establish relations of different kinds: close or distant, formal or IDJ;ormal, temporary or permanent, dominant or subordinate. Foucault (1980 in Macdonnell1991: 121) states that "power means relations" and refers to the importance of the local"technology of power" in that they constitute local authority and local hierarchies. These, in 44

my observation within the Samoan context are agents which insert themselves (through words and actions) into wider frameworks such as the national polity when the need is called for. This can be seen in domains such as Parliament and the courts where the linguistic encoding of agency not only affirms participation but also cultural solidarity.

Samoa has been described as a modern society and nation which asserts a 'dual motivational goal' (Fairbairn Dunlop 1991: 104), a desire for modern material goods and services as well as maintaining traditional values and customary ways which have also changed with the demands of time and necessity. Recent trends show that the attitude to land ownership has changed to becoming more individualistic than communal. Land allocation on communal holdings which constitutes 80% of the total land area is still administered by matai. But O'Meara (1987: 137-51) observed several cases in which, he claimed, continual residence on a particular area has been widely accepted as ownership and is therefore rarely re-allocated, as was the custom in former days when matai of respective families died. However this is not the case, for example, in specific land plots such as the ones upon which le faletele -- the ceremonial house of a main title holder-- has been erected. The successor of a major title inherits and maintains the land and the house which is used mainly for formal and ceremonial occasions.

More important however, is the fact that the matai also inherits the right to administer lands pertaining to the conferred matai title. As indicated repeatedly by Samoan Judges in the Land and Titles Courts,2 the path to land occupation and use is still through the matai system and the matai system does not recognise individual ownership, in the European sense, of Samoan communal

2 Discussed and affirmed also in a Land and Titles court Seminar Nov. 1992 45 lands. Where the change in attitude and practice really manifests itself clearly is in the increase of freehold land purchased and held by matai and other people who also Jiye and maintain the matai system in their respective villages. Freehold land is unfettered by broad traditional authority in the communal sense, has clearly marked boundaries, and unlike communal land, can be used as security for economic development. Nevertheless it is clear that many Samoan families living on freehold reflect the maintenance of the matai hierarchy and subsequent role playing of different members of the aiga. On freehold plots away from the village Samoan families are still identified by their original village and corresponding matai title. This is also made plain by village and family members constantly travelling between this freehold base and the village.

Faa Samoa is therefore the basis of the social and organisational systems governing family and village behavior and the source of individual and group identity. It exemplifies the phrase - 'culture must change to live' because although faa Samoa is seen to be constantly changing, it is at the same time socially grounded and re~firmed within these changes. Faa Samoa legitimates the matai system. It acknowledges the sacred authority of the matai who not only rules but also serves, thus exacting service and respect'from those who are ruled and served. Kneubuhl explains:-

The Samoan sense of identity is strongly -perhaps ineradicably - coupled with the idea of authority of his matai. Subservience, is not a pejorative concept to a Samoan. It is part of his identity (1985: 1).

The notion of tautua or service rendered to one•s matai and family is seen as a strength, a driving force behind the machinery of the matai system. A strong matai also draws her/his own strength from that of her/his supporting family members therefore her/his actions must' also confirm her/his commitment to their welfare. Without them she/he is nothing for her/his own identity and 46 authority as a matai is inseparable from theirs. Although the chiefly system is hierarchical, it is complex, in that it demands consensual decision-making at all levels and _does not conform synonymously to the Western notion of absolute rule. Correct behavior is the binding factor in faa Samoa because this maintains a harmonious space between individuals and groups. This space is vital in a Samoan's perception of her or himself in relation to others. Socially proper distances maintain a balance between groups and individuals which then lead to harmonious relations.

This behavior is also linguistic. In ordinary and formal speech the phrase vae atu is often heard. It means- 'setting myself apart', or 'conscious of the distance

1 1 between us or 'maintaining the balance in our relation to one another • A person who knows va fealoai is socially adept and is a source of pride and relief to his or her Samoan family. Propriety is vital in all contexts, in all actions. Whether such actions be verbal, physical, direct or indirect they must maintain distances which enhance good relations or maintain a sense of order. In this Samoan context it appears therefore that actions are socially motivated and their meanings social~y determined.

Faa Samoa is also clearly expressed in everyday life throughfaalavelave or daily cdses be they minor or major. These maintain the unity of complex aiga relationships and similar networks which operate effectively by providing moral and material support to those faced with a crisis. This relationship has also been carried into work places and other locales (Samoan migrant networks) in which people reciprocate in terms of help and support and simply label the practice as faa Samoa because it is what they are used to doing as part of Samoan upbringing. At times, difficulties arise with faa Samoa when there is pressure to give goods and money for various faalavelave which may well take 47

a toll on an individual1s earnings and general well being. As a Samoan migrant expressed it

I thought coming to New Zealand would ease the pressure of faa Samoa but here it is just as strong - church donations, family faalavelave here ... and we are also sending money to help those left at home in Samoa. It is good to give for a relevant faalavelave but I must balance everything- the money, the food, the kids1 uniform, the parents in Samoa and everything ... po 1o lea lava, ia lelei, ia talafeagai le faasoa (no matter what, the distribution must be good, must accord.) Well, it is getting harder and harder- it is not easy to do faa Samoa all the time. (sic., brackets mine) (Samoan parent, pers com. New~own, Wellington 1980)

Albert Wendt also explains faa Samoa and extended family in an interview with Vilisoni Hereniko:

I value the group and the extended family. But within the extended family, even in pre-European times, you could be an individual within the group. And as you know, there were some individuals, even in traditional society, who brought about tremendous changes in their society. It still operates in Samoa today. And my family- which is an enormous family, extended throughout the world -is made up of some very remarkable individuals. And sometimes we have enormous arguments and dissension. But we agree on one thing: dissension mustn1t destroy the structure and the unity of the extended family. It has bad aspects in the sense that it could be run like a mafia family [laughs] where you have very powerful individuals running the family, and you have to pay loyalty to them. Within most Samoan families is a lot of diss~nsion, but there1s also a lot of love and alofa for one another. And that1s what l 1ve learned. As I get older, that1s what I value more and more (1993: 51-59).

Faa Samoa is a framework for perception and action because it encompasses the whole system. It is regarded, at various times, as a philosophy, a burden, a problem, a buffer, an excuse, a cause, a curse, a saving grace. Different contexts determine how it is perceived, and more importantly, it continues to change with time. The network is definitely a support system but within it there are also pressures and demands w,hich, depending on the circumstances -- may be more disabling and disruptive to the unity and welfare of its members. It 48 remains clear however that Samoans are constantly revising their social structures and practices in order to cope with change and survive. They do this however ~ith a strong sense of determination that social changes, will not undermine their identity as Samoans.

The Adaptation of Traditional to Modern: Political Organisation

The political organisation of contemporary Samoa, which may be seen to be another colonizing influence, is powerfully undergirded by the traditional social organisation. Even in this most structured aspect of Samoan life, the resilience and adaptability of the matai system are fully in evidence. The desire for formal recognition of tama a aiga (paramount descent groups, literally translated as the descendants of the families of Samoa also referred to in English as the major lineage titles) persisted throughout colonial rule. The position of 'fautua' or high advisors to the German Governor was created by the German administration for two members of the tama a aiga - Malietoa and Tupua. The same two individuals holding these titles at the time had also held this office during preparations for Independence. Subsequently they became the joint Heads of State when Western Samoa became independent in 1962. Tupua has since died and Malietoa at present is the Head of State.

A Council of Deputies is associated with the office of Head of State. In the absence of the Head of State, members of this council assume the duties of office. At the national level, political organisation is inherently influenced by the traditional polity. Despite the central government of the Prime Minister, Legislative assembly and respective government departments, the maintenance of law and order, and of social integration, is largely made possible by the traditional system, through the Fono or Council of chiefs, the effective governing body of the village. Its structu:r;e and conve:nHons reflect both the general characteristics of Samoan society and the particular characteristics of 49 individual villages. When political boundaries became necessary for central government administration and representation (eg. for election purposes), the villages th~mselves were then divided into political constituencies which also reflected ties of kinship and locale as shown in the follm:ring diagrams taken from Keesing (1956: 19, 22). 50

WESTERN SAMOA

ADAPTATION OF TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATION TO MODERN GOVERNMENT-

PALAULI WEST

SAVAI'I

----- TRAOITIOH"-1. DJ:'ITFUCT ANO SUBDISTRICT UNITS I"AIPUU:. DISTRICTS U POLU (i'i"'UPOc.u, 19 ~1\V ... I'I) VIL\.AGE:S (J9.:Z.)

TVIMAHU~

SENIOR CHIEF TITLES ~~TKIM ALIGNMENT~

.. ' .r •' '' i r:: • '' ; : ' '.' ' ::... ' . I.'. I' .• ~ J'w.: 'OUTICAL­ or..t.~ C.!:.P.EMONI .. L. ~-..·; o~;rf~~ C£NTI::R:!.- \ , "(;· ;f \ .i !

SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTVRE,WITH GREAT TITLES 51

The importance of genealogical connections in a Samoan political context is illustrated particularly by the villages of Leauvaa (literally translated- boat people) and Salamumu (spreading fire). These people fled from the island of Savaii during the volcano eruption of 1905 and settled ori. different parts of the coast of Upolu island. In the division of political constituencies these people maintained their genealogical connection with Savaii and their original natal villages. Hence, Leauvaa (on the Northern coast of Upolu island) belongs to the Lealatele and Salamumu to Gagaemauga. Both constituencies belong to the island of Savaii. Such divisions and affiliations made sense in the Samoan context because one could only vote as a matai and one's matai title usually comes from one's family and natal village. In other words voting was restricted to the localities from which the matai titles originated. Only through acquiring a matai title in another village could a person then have another choice of where to vote.

Today with universal suffrage, a further choice emerges in that one can vote for representation in a chosen locality through residence and therefore is no longer restricted to his/her kinship connection or place of descent. However, this kinship restriction was not really as confining as might be expected, because with extended family ties one could hold several matai titles from different villages or constituencies. During elections one then had to choose which constituency he or she would vote in and would then have to use the appropriate registered matai title from that particular place.

Although universal suffrage introduced in 1990 replaced matai suffrage, only matai are allowed to stand as political candidates. The exception is made with 'individual voters' who can vote at 21 years and stand for election without matai titles. Individual voters were historically known as European Electorates which franchised non-Samoans who had taken Samoan citizenship and more so 52 the racially m_ixed Samoan community who chose not to affiliate themselves politically with the Matai system. All together, the national government is composed of a Legislative Assembly of 47 matai seats and 2 individual voters' seats. Elections were held every 3 years until1990 when an act of Parliament changed this to 5 years.

Until the early seventies voting power was not utilised by the villages, only by the individual voters, and various leading matai would take turns representing their constituencies in Parliament. Differences of opinion, and an inability to agree on representatives, led to the utilisation of the palata or the ballot system, which subsequently led to the development of political parties. Initially, Parliamentary debates were resolved by consensus or individual voting, but gradually, party allegiance has come to dominate. The traditional habit of voting for ki~ has been modified, with members of the same family serving on opposing parties. This, however, does not necessarily mean that kinship affiliations have waned. On the contrary, through other means (both covert and overt) and in other domains, kinship affiliations continue to predominate in Samoan affairs.

A Hybrid System: The Courts and the Fono

There are two legal systems operating in Western Samoa today. They are constitutional and statutory, English common law (as developed in common law jurisdictions) and Samoan customary law. The Constitution determines which matters are to be governed by customary law and which by common law. These two sources of law for Samoans are illustrative of the fact that the traditional and modern, the indigenous and imported, co-exist and create hybrid forms which try to cater for and adapt to local conditions. In 1980, the 53

Chief Justice expressed the view that the reference in the Constitution (SC 1982 No. 5979) to "the English common law" did not require Western Samoan courts to apply tl:te law of England itself, but instead referred to a body of law

originally exported from England and not necessarily b~ing applied there at the

time of reception, which is whenever Western Samoa chooses to apply it. 3 English common law as well as that of other Pacific jurisdictions (New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific Island nations) have been found helpful in developing common law in Western Samoa. Thus in the formal judicial arena, there are two court systems:-

(i) The Land and Titles Courts

(ii) The Supreme, Magistrates and Appeals courts.

The Lands and Titles Courts is a court of record which applies Samoan custom and usage and whose decisions are based on an unwritten and uncodified body of customary procedures. Its continued existence from the time of German administration 4 was seen by the Samoan leaders and external advisers as part of the continuing commitment and assertion of faa Samoa because it dealt with the important Samoan issues of lands and titles and in all claims relating to Samoan custom and usage. The Court consists of a president, who is the Chief Justice or a judge of the Supreme Court, and Samoan judges and assessors whose appointments are based on charac;:ter, ability, standing and reputation. Samoan judges in the Lands and Titles court (who may also be assistant magistrates in the Magistrates' Courts) are appointed for three year terms. Lawyers are not permitted to represent parties or individuals. Their

3 Powles in Ntumy et al 1993:398

4 A feature of the German colonial administration was the introduction in 1903 of a land and titles commission

(later renamed a "court'') to decide disputes relating to customary land and matai titles. 54 participation is allowed in this court only by virtue of their traditional connection to a particular case usually as matai of the affected parties.

Hearings are a combination of Samoan custom and court conventions. Parties are required to submit written summaries of their arguments in advance. In addition, publication of petition details and dates of court sittings in the Savali (a government newspaper) is required so that all persons having a say in the lands or matai titles in question can attend and also be made aware of the Court's decision. Witnesses are cross-examined by the judges and assessors themselves and the decisions which are also recorded (in Samoan and English) are subject to appeal. The language used in this court is Samoan when all participants are Samoan. However, when non-Samoan speaking judges preside, interpreters are employed to translate the proceedings for their benefit.

The Supreme, Magistrates and Appeals Courts are based on a written body of Western rational-legal systems of authority. The Supreme Court is referred to as "a superior court of record, with certain constitutional functions and further jurisdiction provided by statute" (Powles 1993: 395-430). It is comprised of a Chief Justice, appointed by the Head of State on advice of the Prime Minister, and other judges appointed by the Head of State on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. The present Chief Justice is the second Samoan to hold this office, the first one was appointed in 1983. Prior to that Chief Justices were often New Zealand and Australian expatriates. The spoken language used in these courts has been both English and Samoan whilst the records are kept only in English.

The Magistrates' Courts is presided over by magistrates who are appointed by virtue of their experience as barristers or solicitors or registrars of the Supreme Court. Lower jurisdiction and assistance is rendered by faamasino fesoasoani or assistant magistrates who are not required to have legal training but must be 55

persons of good repute and considerable experience. The bulk of formal court work is handled in the Magistrates' Courts which have jurisdiction over most

civil matt~rs which do not warrant appearance in the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal is also a court of record composed of three judges who may be the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court. In practice, the Court of Appeal has been composed of mainly expatriate judges from New Zealand and Australia who hear appeals from the Supreme Court as well as the Land and Titles Court. In the Court of Appeal lawyers can act for cases from the Lands and Titles Court where they are in fact not recognised.

Village Juris diction

Local government is essentially conducted by the councils of chiefs referred to as the fono. Historically, many matai have held the opinion that their authority requires no validation by the national legislature because they establish and enforce their own codes of village conduct without much help from the central authorities. However they are subject to the law although the technical legality of Village Fono operations was officially recognised recently in the passing of the Village Fono Act (1990) which was

An Act to validate and empower the exercise of power and authority by Village Fono in accordance with the custom and usage of their villages and to confirm or grant certain powers, and to provide for incidental matters (Western Samoa Village Fono Act 1990 S.1) .

This incorporation into the formal legal structure thereby legitimized the power of the fono to exercise customary authority in the imposition of fines and work orders for village misconduct. All deliberations by the fono are conducted in Samoan only and there are no written records. In addition, its deliberations are particular to the local situation so that. 56

no person found by any Village Fono to have been guilty of village misconduct, shall by reason only of that fact be deemed to be guilty of a crime or offence under any other enactment, nor except with the consent of that person shall evidence be given in any court of the decision of the Village Fono or of any punishment imposed by it (S.4).

Provisions are also made for

Courts to take account of penalty imposed by Village Fono - where punishment has been imposed by a Village Fono in respect of village misconduct by any person and that person is convicted by a Court of a crime or offence in respect of the same matter the Court shall take into account in mitigation of sentence the punishment imposed by that Village Fono (S.8).

However the determination of guilt by a Fono does not impede court action in . respect of the same behavior. Similarly the formal acceptance of an i£oga: a ritual public apology, does not preclude a civil action for damages at common law. Village fono decisions relating to lands and titles may also be appealed in the Land and Titles Court.

Within the village there is also another figure of authority (originally introduced by the German administration) who is a representative of the central administration but also essentially a village member. This is the pulenuu: a government village appointee or sometimes referred to in English as the village mayor. He or she is a matai of the village nominated by the village council and appointed for a three-year term. The pulenuu acts as a liason officer between central government and the village council. He/She carries out functions imposed by statute such as the registering of village births and deaths which occur at home.

In the Samoan context therefore the local and national polities and the creation of social order is still seen as emerging primarily from the faa Samoa traditional system Such traditional systems operate on the knowledge within the 57 immediacies of context. However, 'expert systems' as referred to by Giddens (1990: 130) is a modern form which operates on knowledge within technical and professional accomplishment and actually removes social relations from the immediacies ~f context. The courts in Samoa are therefor~ strongly associated with the modern Samoan state and with Western principles and procedures as opposed to the traditional system which operates through village based settlements as deliberated by the fono. The peaceful co-existence of these systems has not always been compatible and their separation has not always been maintained, as will be shown in one of the case stqdies.

Adaptability: The Appropriation of Christianity.

In the early 1700s the first Europeans, beachcombers and explorers arrived in Samoa. Whitemen were called Papalagi which meant 'bursting from the sky' - in reference to their large billowing ships against the horizon as they sailed into sight. Jacob Roggewein, one of the first explorers in the Pacific, came through Samoa after Rapanui in 1722. He described Samoans as ''a harmless, good sort of people, and very brisk and likely, for they treated each other with visible marks of civility and had nothing in their behaviour that was wild or savage... " (Hempenstall1978:25). Samoans were intrepid travellers themselves earning for their homeland the name, Navigator Islands as given by the explorer Bougainville in 1768. Early contact between Samoans and travelling Europeans was limited. Trading was often an exchange of cloth and other material goods for provisions. In 1787, La Perouse, a Frenchman, visited the Eastern Samoan islands where twelve of his crew were killed by Samoans. Journals kept by travelling seamen at the time hence described Samoans as treacherous and fierce savages.

As a result, few Europeans had any prolonged contact with Samoans until the arrival of John Williams and members of the London Missionary Society in 58

1830. They had come from the Cook Islands and Tahiti and hence the LMS Church was referred to as Lotu Taiti (the church from Tahiti). Already a few Christian cults had emerged from the teachings of beachcombers as well as a few Samoans who had some experience of Christianity. An example was Sio Viii the Samoan cult-leader who had witnessed the beginnings of Christianity in Tonga (Meleisea 1987: 12; Gilson 1970: 68-70). The success of the London Missionary Society conversion is however believed by many Samoans to have been a result of the belief that their arrival was a fulfilment of prophecy. According to oral tradition, when the woman warrior and Samoan deity Nafanua conquered all her enemies and seized political power in all of Samoa, she distributed her power of authority to the district of Aana and its allies. Malietoa from the village of Sapapalii, Savaii, asked for his share and Nafanua replied, Ia tali i lagi sou malo -Await thy kingdom from heaven. The timely arrival of Williams in Sapapalii was therefore interpreted as fulfilment of this prophecy. Nafanua was regarded as a "Samoan prophetess of God that preceded Christ like the Jewish prophets" (Keesing 1934: 409) and hence the safe passage of these early Christian converters was duly ensured.

Chiefly competition for access to the new religion led to the acceptance of other Christian denominations such as the Wesleyan or Methodist (1832) referred to as Lotu Toga or the church from Tonga from whence these missionaries had come. In the same period, the Catholic mission arrived and was duly referred to as Lotu Pope, the church from the Pope or Lotu Roma the Church from Rome. Sectarian rivalry from the earliest years of missionary influence was as prevalent as it was in Europe. It was also utilised by Samoan chiefs who rapidly accepted Christianity for their own purposes, since it provided a source of new sacred power and political authority that was recognised and coveted as the church became absorbed into the Samoan organisational and hierarchical framework. 59

By 1860 a new Christian order had emerged, whereby the missionaries, and later the Samoan clergy, established their own authority as holders of sacred power ratl~er than the Chiefs alone, whose authority was nevertheless still believed to be divinely sanctioned by their own traditional deity, Tagaloa-a-lagi or by the new God- Jehovah. Meleisea (1987: 14) states that overall, Christianity in Samoa had a levelling effect since sacred power, largely believed to be the Chief's source of political authority, was re-defined by Christian teachings as available to all. In addition, Christian laws concerning marriage changed the ways in which political alliances could be secured. Formerly, polygamous relationships and issues had been part of chiefly prerogative as well as a means of extending power and influence. Christianity confined chiefs to one wife and one sphere of marital influence and consequently the rank, status and role of chiefs stood to be greatly transformed.

However it remained central to the Samoan perspective that the chiefly institution of the matai system by which Samoan society continued to op'erate and exist was also given and sanctioned by their adopted Christian God. Meleisea (18) explains that although Protestantism became the predominant ideological influence in the second half of the 19th century in Samoa, the Calvinist preoccupation with the predestination of the individual soul did not take root, despite the Calvinis~ leanings of many LMS missionaries. 'Individual salvation through individual accumulation', which, in Weber's famous argument contributed to the rise of the industrial middle class in Northern Europe, did not become a part of Samoan Christian ideology. Instead, Christianity became part of faa Samoa and was used like their old religion - to legitimise its institutions. In the nu'u or village, the pastor occupied the place of highest honour as God's representative but his political power was normally very circumscribed; for example he was not part of the Fono or Council of Chiefs unless his presence was requested. The village pastor and the village 60

were symbolically opposite and apart but were expected to serve one another in reciprocal or complementary ways. The ministers or pastors had their religious charisma or power and could also play upon the social and political susceptibilities of the congregations.

However, in turn, the presence of chiefs in church organisations and affairs curbed the power of the minister and the church as an institution. The divinely sanctioned power of religious ministers became an important factor in conflict resolutions especially of the violent kind. In these circumstances, they (more so than other' mortal' beings with no ascribed sacred power) could intervene with a reduced risk of being hurt or killed.

Keesing, (1934: 408-10) acknowledges the resilience of Samoan practices and perceptions by referring to their new religion and their lives as being dualistic. He describes the obvious externals of church attendance -white Sunday best and hats for women in obedience to the Pauline doctrine; long prayers, scripture readings, impassioned sermons and frequent references to the Bible in conversation as well as greetings and farewells. Alongside these manifestations he also states;

However, the native today believes in aitus and ancestral presences, and as of old fears, darkness and lonely places, sickness and trouble are considered to have supernatural origin; propitiatory and precautionary methods are still largely used. This dualism of the old and new puzzles many observers even those intimately acquainted with the Samoans, they assume that native Christianity is merely 11 skin deep 11 or else hypocritical owing to the fundamental place that such concepts have in native life, not realising that to the Samoan mind the two are fused and compatible. (1934: 409) (emphasis added).

The fact that they are fused and compatible suggests that' dualism' is probably an inadequate term to describe the thoroughly syncretic fusion of traditional belief and Christianity. Contemporary Samoans' Christianity is possibly no 61

.. more hybrid than its expression elsewhere, but its particular character lies in the ability to maintain a strong religious observance i~ the context of a strong social stru<;:ture. As we have seen, this stems from its direct acceptance into the pattern of Samoan belief.

However the co-existence between Christianity and traditional belief is still often maintained. Samoan writer and journalist, Tunumafono Aiavao states that the missionaries;

taught many things, some good, some bad... we gave up our ancient god Tagaloa and switched from Pulotu the underworld to heaven ... we found that it was unbecoming if not an outright sin to be naked ... tattooing was banned in the belief that it broke God's law which stated that man must not spill blood ... We started to use, adapt, adopt and change some parts of Western cultures for our own use. Now we cannot finish a speech in our traditional meetings without some reference to God (1983: 9).

During the ordination of two Catholic priests in 1982 (post Vatican II) Aiavao noted a significant change in church music and songs which were more · commonly adaptations of old Samoan traditional songs of celebration and festivity. The church offerings taken up to the altar were Samoan sua or I traditional offerings of fine mats opened and displayed and a roast pig on a bier. The public act of humility and contrition in which the ordinand in European Catholic tradition prostrated himself in front of the congregation was replaced with the Samoan form of ifoga whereby he knelt, bowed and covered himself with a fine mat. Aiavao states,

On that day I witnessed for the first time the best and the highest in my culture being used to offer thanks to God! ... I said to myself: This is very good. My culture will live! It will not die! ... This to me is a very happy marriage between our culture and Western and Christian cultures (10).

There are, however, contrary opinions stating that to go back to such traditional offerings is unnecessary, since whatever the missionaries introduced now 62

belongs to Samoans. For example, to wear white clothing and use wine and unleavened bread for the ceremonial offering during the religious service did not make Samoans any less Samoan. Whilst the act of contrition using the fine mat was widely accepted, the roast pig offerings in Church were considered by some Samoans to be "paganistic and going back to the dark ages." Although Samoans will adapt and appropriate there is also strong awareness and constant review of what goes on. Popular moves to return to "traditional authentic Samoan" or pre-Christian/ pre-European practices and representations, are also subject to scrutiny and criticism.

oOo

Faa Samoa as a framework for action and perception is therefore permeative. The resilience of the Samoan social structure provides the basis for a confident and assertive appropriation of social practices of various kinds. It can appropriate seemingly strong and all-embracing influences such as Christianity, and systems of law and order with strong European origins, to reinforce rather than overwhelm Samoan reality. The Samoan structures are designed to maintain harmonious relations through appropriate social distances, acknowledgment and forms of organisation. Different beliefs and practices have been, and will continue to be, appropriated into the system, but there exists an underlying, consistent consciousness that the emerging patterns of action and change are identifiable as Samoan. 63

Chapter Three

Linguistic and Cultural Hybridization

The linguistic and social situation of Samoa since colonial contact has often been referred to as a'dualistic' cultural environment. F. Keesing for instance, in his seminal work, Modern Samoa suggests that

The Samoan people are undoubtedly entering a period in which linguistic dualism is going to be a necessity ... there is what might be called a margin of linguistic utility beyond which it is more profitable to use the wider means of communication. This does not mean that the vernacular breaks down entirely at this point, rather it indicates the place where language dualism emerges distinctly.

On the one hand, the evolving Samoan tongue shows every sign of remaining tenaciously as the medium of speech within the native communities ... to preserve the old lore and language as a basis of pride and appreciation. On the other hand, such English as is learned can hardly be called typical, being of meagre and specialised kinds: sailor conversations, trade talk, movie titles, tourist exclamations and simple lessons at school (1934: 444).

Although he acknowledged the emergence and development of different types of language use and social activity in Samoa, Keesing strongly advocated the maintenance of a Samoan indigenous identity which would overcome the danger of being dominated and compromised by European or other influences. However the argument of this chapter is that it is both useful and appropriate to perceive Samoa as a hybridised society rather than a dualistic one. Furthermore, to see Samoa as hybridized does not compromise its cultural identity or integrity but rather acknowledges its strength throughout its social and political development.

The notion of Samoan language and culture being strengthened rather than weakened by foreign influences is also shared by Samoan theologian Lalomilo 64

Kamu. In his book The Samoan Culture and the Christian Gospel (1996) he noted that early missionaries (for example Violette in 1879) suggested in their writings that elite forms of the Samoan language were in the process of disappearing. This has not happened, these elite forms are still very much in use today to establish and maintain the traditional identities of all Samoans. Kamu stated:

However in spite of contacts with the outside world and adaptations with time and change, the language continues to give vital support and new expressions to the traditions of the people. It is resilient enough to benefit from new forms and new ideas instead of becoming weaker. There is strong discernible evidence of the continued strength of the Samoan language and there is a great resurgence by the people throughout the country con~ciously to study their own language and customs (1996: 56).

Contact between Samoan society and other non-European peoples has continued since European contact and. this has contributed to its hybrid character. Keesing refers to influences such as other island dialects, the emergence of pidgin-English and "the significant phenomenon of a conversation in the native tongue even between Samoans - interspersed with English words and phrases pronounced in the English way" (Keesing 1934: 445). He acknowledged that Samoan English was spreading out from the urban centres, becoming more widely used (446) a situation which led to "the very imperfect English of the island situation" (447).

Keesing regarded this trend towards language dualism as an important factor to be taken into account by educators to ensure that the Samoan language and culture were not undermined. He stated: " ... the new Samoan ... will be no slavish imitation of a white man... " (ibid.). To the conscious educator, he advocated a utilitarian approach for the masses whereby "every Samoan child should be taught good simple English of a kind that is closely related to island conditions... and taught under controlled conditions" (ibid). For the selected few who were to .be leaders and teachers of Samoa "they should be given the greatest opportunity possible to attain (sic) in the new culture as well as the old. 65

This should include the fullest mastery of English as both a spoken and a literary language. .... have access to the deeper springs of knowledge." (ibid). It is implied consistently in his writings that Keesing was particularly concerned that if the English language and culture were allowed to interact and merge freely with Samoan it would be detrimental to Samoan cultural and linguistic identity. Having identified a dualistic linguistic condition, he concluded that this separate development of the two languages and cultures -- a side by side co-operation, was inevitable and could be useful for Samoa.

However, dualism as a description of the linguistic an~ social situation in Samoa falls short of the acknowledgment that the Samoan and English languages and cultures were already interacting and impacting on each other. The process of communication, the adoption of European and other social practices, and the introduction of concepts which were different from or presented a different perspective upon what Samoans already knew. This condition therefore strengthens the argument that the situation in Samoa,. was hybrid and not dualistic. The notion of hybridity is :q:mch more useful for describing this diversity of linguistic and cultural appropriation in post-colonial Samoa. Dualism itself is incommensurable with the concept of hybridity because it is too binary and suggests a co-existence of two systems which do not interact with each other but simply exist side by side. In the Samoan context, dualism fails to acknowledge the extensive range of appropriations which have transformed Samoan society. Appropriation is important because it shows that people are agents within the circumstances of their own lives, and demonstrates that the cultural provenance of discursive strategies and forms does not limit their use.

The Case for Hybridity

Keesing maintained that the Samoan and introduced European systems were 66 developing dualistically and co-operatively to fulfill the needs and wants of the Samoan people. However, closer inspection reveals that the two systems, together with other non-European and non-Samoan influences, were constantly creating new hybrid forms in all domains of social life. Dualism fails to acknowledge that there were many other systems and influences which existed in Samoa apart from European and Samoan. Chinese and the Solomon Islanders, brought in by colonial powers as indentured labourers, co-habited or married into Samoan society and also contributed in various ways to the increasing heterogeneity of Samoan society.

Linguistic and cultural practices in Samoa cannot be explained in isolation from the determining social factors which brought them into being. The history of English itself in Samoa incorporates a diverse mix of linguistic, cultural influences which support the contention that Samoan society was not rendered powerless by the impact of colonial discourse. As in other post-colonial societies, the Samoan adoption of a Western language, social practices and technology has created various kinds and degrees of cultural tension. However, despite the frequent complaints about alien cultural influences, the social structure has remained resilient and free to appropriate and adapt such innovations to local needs. Such appropriation points yet again to a continuing process of hybridisation rather than the maintenance of a pure, untainted language and culture in a homogenous society.

Colonial discourse has been subverted through the productive appropriation of its different forms to strengthen Samoan social structures and identity rather than a colonialist or imperial one. A pervasive feature of post-colonial contact in Samoa was an ambivalence which was not all disabling but rather enabled Samoans to "coincide with forms of activity which are both at once ours and other'" (Levi Strauss 1987: 35 cited in Bhabha 1994: 163). Ambivalence is therefore by no means disempowering for the colonial subject but rather ambi- 67 valent or "two powered." Bhabha' s use of the concept of ambivalence has been explained (Ashcroft et al1997) in terms of the simultaneous existence of two opposed and conflicting attitudes which could be represented by the terms "complicitY" and "resistance". This complicity and resistance is manifested through a mimicry whereby the colonial subject is only partially recognised and represented and in this partiality emerges a metonymy of presence of an other part. In effect, this other resists complicity and thereby disturbs the authority of the colonial or imperial discourse (Bhabha 1994: 85-92).

In the Samoan post-colonial context, deference, which in Samoan society is an attitude as well as a way of speaking, is another form of discourse constructed around an ambivalence that also empowers, because deference can at once be both acknowledgment and denial. Shore (1996: 167) discusses the phenomenon of power in Samoa which is understood to be an aspect of a person, or of a title, and balances precariously upon an inherent fragility and instability in the status system. In a Samoan context, the notion of having different "sides" to one's personality further explains a permanent awareness of ambivalence in different social contexts or life situations. It is acknowledged that one's identity, position or role in different social situations calls for the demonstration of a particular aspect of one's personality. For example there is a popular saying in Samoan 'Tu i lou toft' which means you must stand by what you are in terms of your role or social position in a particular context. Toft means both to choose as well as a chosen position. In different social roles (and these do not refer only to positions of power), it follows that one must act in a certain way, show an appropriate side of one's nature which accords with that position, in that context. Because one holds many positions (often overlapping) in social life one may need to hold a precarious balance between different sides to adjust to each situation.

The meta-message of the Samoan comic genre (faleaitu) which plays upon this 68

condition of ambivalence is that all status and role playing is staged, a matter more of performance than of intrinsic worth. Hence in relations of power, whether between imperial and colonised, or between different local hierarchies, deference, like mimicry, plays upon the curious fragility, instability and "absurd" power-lessness of power. Shore observes that

Samoans often have a marvellous sense of the absurd, especially in reference to those very figures to whom they express the greatest deference. To fail to appreciate the highly developed Samoan sense of backstage' irony is to miss the central aspect of their political life (1996: 145).

This 'backstage' irony in a Samoan context is a deference to rank at the very moment when that rank appears to be formally acknowledged. This rank is not only a matter of 'elite' traditional status, but qm also be European colonial authority or any power figure. To acknowledge authority is a form of compliance. But that distance between dominant and subject which appears to be created by deference, may in fact suggest a relationship that is riddled with ambiguity and may well mean resistance and denial rather than acceptance.

This concurs with what Parry (1995: 40-1) refers to in Bhabha's discussion of ambivalence in a post-colonial context, as recovering the ways in which the master discourse was interrogated by the natives in their own accents. Further, that these are also strategies of displacing the imperial text by the "inappropriate utterances of the colonised"(41). According to Parry, Bhabha contests the notion implicit in Said's Orientalism (1978) that "power and discourse is possessed entirely by the coloniser". Instead, he (Bhabha) maintains that because relations of power and knowledge function ambivalently, a colonial discursive system constitutes a dispersed and variously positioned native who by (mis) appropriating the terms of th~ dominant ideology, is able to intercede against and resist this mode of construction. Such a view applies readily to the Samoan situation where ambiguities and paradoxes are very 69 much part of everyday life especially in power relations. A complex effect of ambivalence in post-colonial Samoa is therefore the fact that the society has become readily hybrid despite attempts to maintain its purity through "planned authenticity" ( Min-Ha 1995: 268) and other means. General beliefs and attitudes (such as those proposed by Keesing) which imply that hybridity weakens and causes a loss of cultural integrity have largely been invalidated in practice by Samoan society.

Bhabha's Signs Taken for Wonders (1995: 29) refers to a discourse as a form of defensive warfare, with mimicry marking those moments of civil disobedience within the disciplin~ of civility: signs of spectacular resistance (1995: 29). In Problems in Current Theories of Colonial Discourse Parry discusses Bhabha' s Signs , in particular, the receipt of the English Book by the local people themselves as "a textual insurrection against the discourse of colonial authority located in the interrogation of the English book within the terms of their own system of cultural meanings" (1995: 41). Such examples explain the incongruities which expose the uncertainties and ambivalences for the colonialist text and deny it an authorising presence.

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (1988) implies the view that the colonised were and continue to be subordinates rather than active agents within their own place. Contrary to a view of language as being independent of its origins Kincaid presents English as "the only language I have ... the language of the criminal's deed... " In Kincaid's text, the apparent absence of intervention and subjugation of the colonial discourse by the colonised has resulted negatively in continued polarisations between coloniser and colonised.

However, the variety of linguistic and cultural practices demonstrated in this chapter explains, in contrast, how Samoan society is not only "historical subject, but also agent of an oppositional discourse" (Parry 1995: 44). The discussion 70 also extends to the notion of textuality and argues that this can be more than writing - that the "English book" - the written text, was not the only means of subjugating the colonised. Whether they be actions or words communicated via different media they. are subject to a range of interpretations, subsequent reactions and changes on the part of the recipients who can circumvent, challenge and refuse the authority and intention of the original or source. The "flawed colonial mimesis in which to be Anglicized is emphatically not to be English" (Bhabha 1994: 87) is not only evidenced in post-colonial Samoan writing but also in other forms of social communication which also carry and convey meaning "the ambivalence of which is menacing to colonial authority" (91). Hence one can also refer to texts of culture which are various social practices, be they literary, linguistic, culinary, religious, recreational or otherwise, they are, like the English book -- "the insignia of colonial authority" (Bhabha: 1985a: 89) -- interrogated and interpreted by Samoans within the terms of their own system of cultural meanings and reproduced in their own "accents".

The historical discourse of colonialism was, and is, read, circumvented and dealt with in various ways by Samoans to fulfil their own needs. Samoan society recognises ambivalence as an ever-present factor in various situations and social roles. The argument for hybridity rather than dualism also shows how untenable is the notion of the authentic homogenous Samoan. The colonial subject is in Bhabha's terms, "potentially and strategically insurgent" (Bhabha 1994: 90). But the mimicry which carries the insurgency can also be both creative and socially transformative. The diversity of linguistic and cultural appropriation by Samoans which continues in a local and neo-colonial context therefore provides ample evidence of a duality only in the sense of Samoan society being both historical subject and agent of a vital oppositional discourse which was and still is creative and pragmatic. 0

71

Modes of Hybridization in Samoa.

Cultural Hybridization

The main colonial influences in Western Samoa were that of the Missionaries, the German administration and the New Zealand Administration, with which Samoans interacted in complex ways in their attempt to adapt to new models of social discourse and at the same time develop and maintain their own structures and patterns of living. The period from 1830-1900 can be seen as the awakening era for formal western-type education in Western Samoa when contact with the missionaries instilled a desire in Samoans for formal education, as schools were established by different missions in different parts of the country. However, this education was superimposed on a "daily life" education which taught Samoan culture and skills for survival without a need for a written language.

The primary aim of education in this period was to enable Samoans to read and write in their own language and thereby be able to read the Bible and other religious literature which would aid in Christian indoctrination. Literacy for the missionaries may have meant conversion and retention, but Samoans also recognised immediately the importance of education, as recorded by Gilson

books and knowledge they contained were amongst the early missions' most powerful attractions. Wilkes, in 1839 records that even chiefs were attending along with children. All such instruction and learning was in Samoan not English (1970: 97).

The desire for literacy and the ability of the Missionaries to teach these skills resulted in a literacy rate that was close to 100% by 1900 (Keesing 1934: 414). It is also likely that the early missionaries conveyed an attitude, as common then as it is today, that illiterate people were disadvantaged. According to Topping (1983: 41) the islanders, in the beginning, sought the medium, not the message. 72

Literacy as part of the Christianity package became even more valued as it became clear that the oral medium alone was no longer sufficient since a significant number of literates not only had access to information (in the written form) but also controlled material wealth and power.

Information was no longer confined to the oral tradition because written records became more prevalent. Family record books and other official documents gained importance as historical texts and legal evidence in Lands and Titles Court cases. The Bible not only conveyed Christian doctrines but its literary style, rich in figurative language, was further used to complement an already highly developed oral tradition. Sermons provided a new forum to display oratorical skills for Samoans who became deacons and elders. Not only was this a new form of expression, it provides access to a wider range of knowledge and cultural influence.

Communication technology in radio and television brought about many changes in the culture. Radio facilitated educational broadcasts throughout the country, (especially in the teaching of English), and provided further Western entertainment in the form of music, news, drama and programmes specifically geared to agricultural, health and other needs. Music remains popular, and a significant example of the appropriation of a piece of music by Samoans for their own purposes is Bach's Air on the G String. When this is heard over the national radio it means that someone has died and the funeral details are about to be announced. This has meant that it is never played as a concert piece, as it is reserved specifically for death announcements. Most people do not know, nor are interested in, its original title and composer, it is simply referred to as le pese maliu -- the music of death.

Television and the cinema have prompted the adoption of Western clothing and social behaviour amongst the young in the urban area of Apia. Forming 73 gangs, wearing jeans and calling themselves by names such as Crips and Bloods borrowed from popular American films is also prevalent amongst the urban yo1:1ng who are not closely subjected to the communal control of a village setting.

For housing, European style homes are preferred because they provide greater protection during cyclone seasons, but Samoan-European houses will usually have large open sitting rooms to accommodate extended family meetings, with chairs or mats allowing for different people to be seated in their appropriate places in relation to others as in a traditional Samoan faJe.

The Samoan Counting System and Calendar

An example of the merging of the two systems can be f~und in the compromise between the Samoan counting system and the lunar calendar and their European equivalents. Although unwritten, a Samoan counting system as well as other classifications already existed as part of cultural knowledge before European contact. The counting system was not purely abstract, in that the numbers themselves were always affixed to the objects being counted. In encoding this counting system into a written form, it is obvious that the early missionaries isolated the numerical terms or lexical morphemes which indicated the amount only, thus conforming more closely with the conventional Western system of counting. The following table shows examples of the pre­ colonial and post-colonial systems of counting from numbers one to ten. 74

Old counf mg syst em-->1so Iate d numb er term-->numenca. I symb o I

Pre-colonial > Post-colonial

bread fruit seafood food yams word Number bundles

afua tasitue tasi le ofu tasi le ufi tasi 1

luagafua luatue lua le ofu lua le ufi lua 2

tolugafua tolutue tolu le ofu tolu le ufi tolu 3

fagafua fatue fa le ofu fa le ufi fa 4

limagafua limatue lima le ofu lima le ufi lima 5

onogafua onotue ono le ofu ono le ufi ono 6

fitugafua fitutue fitule ofu fitule ufi fitu 7

valugafua valutue valu le ofu valule ufi valu 8

ivagafua ivatue iva le ofu iva le ufi iva 9

fuagafulu tueagafulu ofugafulu augafulu sefulu 10

As shown on the chart, in the pre-colonial counting system, the object being counted was repeated throughout the process of counting. For example tasi­ gafua referred to one breadfruit, and iva-gafua referred to nine breadfruit. The word formation as shown also subsequently changed when the counting reached an amount of 10. The post-colonial counting system isolated the Samoan number morpheme and also introduced the Arabic symbols which 75 represented these numbers.

As well as a counting system, Samoans also had their own traditional calendar related to the different times of the year. The traditional Samoan terms had their own meanings and explanations embedded in genealogy, myths, legends and certain happenings at particular times of the year. For example, the rising of the palolo (a marine delicacy-- Eunice viridia an annelid worm) was a cultural event which was determined by the stages of the moon. As shown by the chart, two of the months thereby are called Palolomua- first rising, and Palolomuli -last rising. Common usage today utilises the post-colonial fe~ms which are derived from English. For example, Ianuari and Fepuari are the Samoan terms for the months of Janp.ary and February. The traditional terms however are not obsolete and are used more commonly by elderly people, song composers, orators and in literary writing. 76

Months of the Year:

Samoan pre-colonial English terms Samoan post-colonial terms terms

Utuvamua January Ianuari

Toeutuva February Fepuari

Faaafu March Mati

Fanoga April Aperila

Aununu May Me

Oloamanu June Iuni

Palolomua July Iulai

Palolomuli August Aokuso

Mulifa September Setema

Lotuaga October Oketopa

Taumafamua November Novema

Toetaumafa December Tesema

As well as adopting new terms in Samoan, based on English perceptions and terminology, the.possession of an ability to speak and write in English has often been perceived as a mark of distinction in a Samoan society. A person who could read, write and converse in English, had a clear advantage over others who could not. As in other countries in the British Empire, English became the 77 language of commerce, of technology and scientific advancement as well as the medium of international diplomacy and politics. Internal and external communication in many areas required both English speaking and literacy. Inevitably, it became the second language for Samoans as well as the language of wider communication (Fishman 1977).

Linguistic Hybridization

There are various ways in which language has become hybridised in Samoa and it occurs in both informal and formal domains, the process of hybridisation penetrating to all areas of Samoan life. Various sub-groups of Samoan society, and speakers in various linguistic situations, display the characteristics of different speech communities. Although there are several interrelated definitions of a speech community, Bolinger offers one which fits this discussion.

There is no limit to the ways in which human beings league themselves together for self-identification, security, gain, amusement, worship or any of the other purposes that are held in common, consequently there is no limit to the number and variety of speech communities that are to be found in society (1975: 333).

The sociolinguistic location of addresser and addressee must always be considered in various linguistic situations. Widdowson discusses how the capacity for making meaning out of linguistic resources is not confined by language competence. He suggests that we are led to believe that the creative force of language is channelled into a code and finds expression only in the production of sentences according to rule...

But the fact that we are able to produce and interpret utterances which do violence to such rules makes it clear that creative capacity has an independent existence. This capacity is of course available to us as learners of another language, and so-called errors are evidence of its survival. They are the results of the learner exploiting what~ver resources are available to him to achieve his meanings. This exploitation is comparable with what 78

Levi-Strauss calls bricolage: (1986: 247).

Whilst the functional use of English has been highly valued throughout Samoan history its creative use has also developed, and this creative use has not been

confined to literature. It has increasingly become merged with Samoan in different domains, in different kinds of colloquial varieties such as: a street language for the young in Apia, a playground language for children; a patois for different groups of Samoans with varied knowledge of English (plantation background such as Aleisa and clerical level public servants); and a form of "bricolage" idiom for the Samoan faafafine (effeminate men). A combination of the two languages also identifies a Western educated group of professionals, technicians and tradespeople who received their education mainly in English.

The inclusion of the English phrases and names for advertising commercial products give colour, interest and variety to the selection of words used (notwithstanding that the products can thereby be immediately identified) without a sense of imposition or strangeness. Samoan buses very succinctly display the results of language adaptation. In the past they conformed to conventional practices; a sign in the front which simply indicated their destination. Today however they also display English written boldly along the side of each bus.- such as the DTM or Don't tell Mum bus which plays on the fact that bus cruising is a common occupation for truant students; Green Peace for environmental concerns and Flying Fox in the Freedom Tree implies knowledge of Albert Wendt's work Others display religious messages mainly in English; Pray for Salvation, Jesus is my Saviour, Peacemaker, and some with selected Bible quotes. Others are similar to boat names such as Lady Havana, Lady Suetupe, Lady Pandora, Lord Tiger, or popular imported sayings or songs such as Jungle Boys, Reggae Nights, Boom Saka La and Don't wom; Be happy also seen to be reversed as Don't happy be worry. 79

The privileged position of a standard English has thus been transformed by an emphasis on a usage which highlights the non-Englishness of the user or producer and the product itself. Whether spoken or written, conscious or unconscious, the English language has thus assumed a non-English character.

Children's Talk

Another clear example of linguistic hybridization is the language form spoken by Samoan children in the playground. Often they will sing songs or chant rhymes which may have been taught to them in English. But in the familiar environment of the playground they disregard pronunciation and other grammatical rules enjoying the sound and rhythm of the language rather than the ability to demonstrate competence in English speech. When playing a game of chase various English rhymes determining the chaser (who's It ) will be repeated with the ritual pointing at each member of the group until the last one left is referred to as kuli (It in English- the chaser) will pursue the others. An example of such a rhyme is

Pinky Pinky Ponky Daddy bought a donkey, Donkey died Daddy cried Pinky Pinky Ponky. Will you please walk out.

Some yariations uttered by Samoan children in the playground are:

(i) Inkt; inky onky taddy borda-donkey taddy tie taddy tie inky inky onky. Will you please walk out. (ii) Inky inkt; onkt; tatty porta-tonkey tonkey krai tatty krai inky inky onky. Will you please walk outie.

The sounds which children substitute are often those English ones which are absent in the Samoan language such as /d/ -> /tj. The last consonant of the word cried is often not said at all because in Samoan, vowels always occur between consonants and all words end in vowel sounds. Therefore cried does not conform entirely to a Samoan sound combination so that when it is uttered it is 80

often as /krai/- ending in a vowel rather than the consonant /d/.

Such omissions of the past tense form Ned " are also very common in written English. Some children may speak and write English according to the standard in the classroom but in the context or domain of the playground different attitudes and forms of expression preside. Careful and deliberate articulation may delay the action of play and also such a speaker may also convey an attitude of arrogance in the level of competence displayed (and risk peer alienation-fia Palagi - "European wannabe") rather than just getting on with the play.

With the learning of English songs, nursery rhymes and poems it is obvious that the enjoyment of sound predominates and if the change of sound creates unexpected meanings these are also equally enjoyed. It is often only later, in adulthood, that the historical background, the meanings and even the correct words of various nursery rhymes are discovered. Rhymes such as Ring a ring of Roses, Humph) Dumpty and Husha-bye Baby may well have a great number of versions chanted by Samoan children.

Faafa fine

The faafafine (males who act like women) 1n Western Samoa use a specific mixture of English and Samoan. Faafafine in Samoa have traditionally been more openly accepted by the community than perhaps their counterparts in Western countries, so their unconventional language use, flamboyant clothing, dramatically effeminate voices and mannerisms, have always been openly displayed. Effeminateness does not necessarily connote weakness, and as accepted members of Samoan society faafafine have their own place and roles to play, while faafafine language may be used by others. 81

Faafafine may refer to themselves and be referred to by a variety of names, one of which is aunty -- a word which alludes to a faafafine' s feminine characteristics. As one relative explained "Ioe o lo'u uncle, ole usa o lo'u tama ae o le aunhj'' --Yes he is my uncle, my father's brother but he is an aunty. A male child who is effeminate is often referred to as having tendencies towards being an aunty. Although, Samoan names in general are not gender-based, faafafine will often change their Samoan names to glamorous or exotic sounding European ones such as Sabrina, Mishie, Blondie, Tanya, Princess Tiger, Candida and Cindy (as in Crawford). In many respects the gender ambivalence of

faafafine predisposes them to a ready blurring of linguist~c and cultural distinctions in the development of their particular discourse.

Faafafine lead normal lives. Those in the villages are often affiliated with the women's committees and occupy themselves more with women's domestic chores although they may also do men's heavy work. In town many work as cashie!s, entertainers, caterers, seamstresses, domestic help, hotel recepti9nists and various other forms of employment. Some may live together but most live with their families but belong to organised faafafine groups with predominantly English names such as My Girls Association and Melody Girls . They make up sports teams, fundraise for charity, promote health awareness campaigns and other community projects. Faafafine are a distinctive speech community and they are also very much part of the wider Samoan community.

Like other speech communities faafafine language use involves some expressions which are not comprehensible to others, and the topics or content are a mixture of everyday concerns and activities as well as taboo subjects. Code switching is common amongst faafafine who shift between conventional Samoan, English, a mixture of both or their own particular faafafine dialect.

Many who are not competent in English use what they ~ow -- English words, phrases and sometimes English intonations throughout their Samoan speech. In 82 one of the faafafine beauty pageants a question was asked in English about what they would do with a large amount of money. One contestant replied in Samoan with the inclusion of one English word -- 11 0peration.11

A common feature of faafafine speech is a distinctively high, sibilant and feminine sounding (in church choirs faafafine will often opt to be sopranos), and the high degree of aspiration in initial plosive consonants to resemble the sound of a European speaking Samoan. In a way the latter feature is a good example of mimicking European speech but it has gone further than mere mimicking, it has become appropriated as a distinctive feature of faafafine speech which can be readily identified over a telephone or on a radio talk-back.

In their use of language, faafafine play on multi-syllabled words (both English and Samoan) and either invert the syllables or mix both Samoan and English syllables in one word. Samoan words with double syllables are inverted. For example Samoan terms for girl and boy: teine and tama are reversed to neite and mata. Faafafine often use this reversed form of "girl" in Samoan to refer to themselves as girls or uneite". In casual talk such as an utterance on the netball court to pass the ball- pasi le polo, faafafine reverse the syllable order of words to sipa le lopo; and to say no in Samoan, leai is reversed to aile. Also there is a use of English syllables or words mixed with Samoan as with th~ term Sa-chick for Samoa or Samoans. The first syllable Sa remains the same. The second syllable - moa which means chicken in English is translated and abbreviated to "chick" hence -Sa-chick or Sa-hen meaning Samoa or Samoan. At other times the literal translations of Samoan phrases into English are confusing unless referred back to their Samoan meanings. For example, a Samoan phrase gata ae papa which means" don't you ever... " or unever". However the words 11 gata" and "papa" also literally mean snake and rock respectively. Should someone call out 11 E! Snake and Rock! 11 (in English)- it is an order or a promise not to do something ever again. The English word 11 mistake" is related to immoral 83 behaviour and often refers to illicit extra-marital relations.

Other examples shown in the following list demonstrate how faafafine change English words not to sound more Samoan but more European with the addition of (what they perceive as) extra-English sounding soun~s. At the end of this list is an example of the word major (a military official of high rank) which is currently used by faafafine and others who use faafafine language as meaning boyfriend (both in a heterosexual as well as homosexual sense).

Conventional Use Faafafine Usage

Monday Montrella Tuesday Tuestrella Wednesday Wenstrella Thursday Furstrella Friday. Fritrella Saturday Satrella Sunday Suntrella Sister Sistra taxi traxi stop strop boyfriend major Sister Sistrella

This unconventional use of language by faafafine is partly a sign of identity as well as a genuine enjoyment of language and its creative potential. Faafafine do not deny they are different nor does the Samoan community. They are an example of a smaller but distinctive speech community in Samoa. It is informal and largely based in the town area although there are faafafine living in the villages who display similar characteristics to those already mentioned.

Informal Contexts of Discourse

In other informal situations Samoans invariably use a casual mixture of English and Samoan in their verbal exchanges. 84

Example 1. Context: casual meeting

Speaker A: 0 fea e fai ai lau workshop? (Where will your workshop be held?)

Speaker B: Ausekalia- i Sydney. (Australia - in Sydney)

Speaker A: Lea le kou topic? (What's your topic?)

Speaker B: Mea kau environment... NGO (Environmental ... NGOs)

Speaker A: When?- Afea la eke alu ai? (When? -When are you leaving then?)

Speaker B: Kaeao- first flight, Air New Zealand (Tomorrow- first flight, Air New Zealand)

Speaker A: Le flight lea e ui aku i Giu Sila? (The flight that goes through New Zealand?)

Speaker B: Lega - lua ikula le stopover i Aukilagi. (That's it- two hours stopover in Auckland.)

Speaker A: Ia maguia le malaga - vaai oe i leiloa i Sigi. (Well have a good trip - don't get lost in Sydney.)

Speaker B: Lea foi ale kala ale au Osi- No worries! (What do the Aussies say? No worries!)

Speaker A: Masalo e kukusa lava male Don't worry Be Happy. Perhaps it is the same as Don't worry Be Happy.)

Speaker B: Ia ae a - sao se mea lava. (Oh well of course -whatever.)

Example 2 context: office

Speaker A: E iai sau kopi o le Annual Report? (Do you have a copy of the Annual Report?)

Speaker B: Leai gao le Memorandum of Understanding (No just the Memorandum of Understanding) 85

Speaker A: Leai o le Annual Report e maua ai au tables lea e sue. (No, the annual report has the tables I'm looking for)

Speaker B:. Sei sue. E kakau ga iai se department copy i le library. (We'll look. There should be a department copy in the library.)

Example 3. Context: mechanical workshop

Speaker A: 0 lea? 0 le fan belt? (What is it? The fan belt?)

Speaker B: Kailo se, faakoa uma aku foi ga fai le radiator . (Gosh I don't know- the radiator only just got fixed)

Speaker A: Kau le maua gi spare parts o le kama lea - a koe faakau sau kaavale faakau sau Toyota poo se model kaa kele. (Not many spare parts for this boy -when you buy a new car buy Toyota or a more common model.)

Speaker B: Oi no problem, pe a leva. (Oh no problem, maybe in a long time.)

These examples reveal the effortless way in which the two languages are combined. The purpose is to be understood, to send a message which can be received and responded to. The use of English words in a conversation and the reference to different parts of a car in English is emphatically not to sound English or to convey the fact that one is using a foreign language. Any Standard English tone and pronunciation of these words will be downplayed in favour of a Samoan intonation and accent.

In the world of advertising and public media English is also subject to usage in a multitude of ways. Over radio, television and in newspapers, imported products and practices are advertised by using the English referents, brand names or labels which have become part of Samoan everyday language. For example; 86

Mutton Chops e maua ia Molesi i le tala valu sefulu ile pauna. Vave mai.

Come to Molesi Samoa. (Mutton chops at Molesi at tala and eighty sene a pound. Come quickly. Come to Molesi Samoa.)

Bingo! Bingo! Bingo! Sau loa ole a faatali atu lavale jackpot sei e sau. Aso Faraile nei, fitu i le afiafi i le Feiloaimauso Hall."

(Bingo Bingo Bingo! Come now the jackpot is waiting for you. This Friday, 7pm at Feiloaimauso Hall.)

Le Anchor Milk le susu pito sili na lelei mo lou aiga. Ioe e malolosi rna fiafia ai le aiga.

(Anchor Milk the best milk for your family. Yes Anchor Milk will make your family healthy and happy.)

Theatre, movies and video cassettes, as well as consumer and other commercial products, are often advertised in Samoan but.using their English titles or labels and a mixture of other English words. For example:

(i)Le ata ole tamaloa o Arno le commando toe foi mai faa terminator rna faimai le tala a si tamaiti "Hasta la vista baby" - toe feiloai i se aso". (The movie of the man Arno the commando returning as the terminator and the kid says "Basta lavista baby" til we meet another day).

(ii)Manatua le Uncle Johnny's ice cream e matua very very good mo outou tamaiti. (Remember Uncle Johnny's ice cream is very very good for you, children).

(iii)Le Budweiser ahhhhh taste good le Budweiser le pia manaia rna lelei. Ioe taste goooood e le uma lou manao i le Budweiser. (Budweiser ahhhh tastes good Budweiser the beer that tastes nice and is good. Yes it tastes good you can't stop wanting Budweiser).

This contemporary use is different from earlier days when the separate use of English and Samoan was the standard. Separation is still maintained for non-commercial and official announcements or broadcasts but in the world of advertising, children's programmes, local short stories and casual conversation over the air, the mixture of English and Samoan has strong popular appeal.

Effective communication depends on the context of the situation in 87 which the exchange takes place. In some contexts only one language will be used. In other contexts both can be used in varying proportions. Different linguistic circumstances are recognised by rriost speakers and their linguistic competence is therefore proven by the way they vary their use of lal'lguage appropriately in relation to the context. Competence in English is also a mark of prestige and speakers may intend to impress others with frequent intersperses of English words within Samoan sentences or speaking entirely in English. The occurrence of too many English words in one's speech in a certain context where it is not warranted may be scorned or regarded unfavourably by comments such as nanu soo - too much English; fia siou - show off; faa fia poko - making out that one is overly clever; fia sili- trying to be superior and fia palagi - wanting to be seen as European. In both casual and formal expression, different individuals and groups consciously and unconsciously determine their extent of English and Samoan using one or the other or certain amounts of each in different situations. Groups and individuals convey different messages with their use of language. 88

Regional Variants

Even in an area as small as Samoa, regional speech variants may be identified. The peri-urban area of Aleisa is recognised for its distinct mixed use of English and Samoan languages. Many of the people from this community are of mixed Samoan and European descent; plantation workers or owners who are familiar with a mixed English and Samoan "patois" which was probably common during colonial days. In earlier days, Aleisa residents referred to themselves as the Labour Party, alluding to their tradition of working the land as well and affiliating (in name only) with a New Zealand political party of the time. In the urban area of Apia, where people are aware of this community's way of speaking-- neither English nor Samoan but a constant mixture of both-- a speaker may be identified with the comment: "Pei se Aleisa" - Sounds like an Aleisa person. Both in open jest and everyday use, this speech community illustrates its spontaneous and creative use of the two languages. In the course of an utterance, often the nouns are in English while the rest of the sentence is in Samoan for example;

E omai le makou gang i le makou truck e o i le market ae sosoa e leisi au bloody swine i luga kogu lava o le bridge i Kuaefu.

(Our gang were coming in our truck to go to the market and they got hit by these other bloody swine right on the bridge at Kuaefu).

Although not as distinct as faafafine this speech community displays a similar enjoyment of the combination of Samoan and English.

American Samoans use American English and in their Samoan speech also employ more English Americanisms as well as their own borrowings such as soda (soda pop- pronounced as saw-da), teritori (territory of the United States), militeri (military) and familiar reference to Uncle Sam. American Samoans speak English with a heavy American accent, their urban young also influenced by Hawaiian Pidgin English and Black English. There is a strong concern in 89

American Samoa that children are speaking less and less Samoan. Western Samoans who visit or live in American Samoa sometimes acquire or temporarily "take on" this American Samoan accent and terminology both in English and Samoan. There are also distinctions in speech and vocabulary terms which differentiate American and Western Samoans.

In earnest or comic imitation Samoans from both sides will use English and Samoan to make distinctions between themselves as exemplified in the following table

Distinctive Terms used by American and Western Samoans

I

American Western Samoa English Samoa

palaai faiaiga defeated

pelu sapelu machete

uila papa uila afi motorcycle

ausaalo matatuai grater

esikegi faalavelave · accident

gao io over there

gai i i over here

The varieties of English from the United ~tates and New Zealand feature in these differences such as 90

vocabulary: trash can I rubbish bin,

drive-in I takeaway,

movies I pictures word stress: laboratory and library, vowel distinction: dance, awful, Mom as opposed to Mum.

Also recognisable is the articulation of certain sounds in the American way such as /r/ at the end of words which is normally converted to jaj in Standard British pronunciation and the change ofjtjto jdj (or a "flap" in phonetic terms) in words such as butter.

Language Use in Parliament and the Public Service

Parliamentary debates illustrate the continued use and value of both Samoan and English, which are the official languages of the Samoan parliament. However, as a political forum, Parliament also shows the heated nature of the language debate since the use of Samoan is assumed to be a more authentic expression of cultural identity. As a matai one is elected into parliament and therefore required by protocol to speak Samoan in the House. The two individual voters' members are not required to speak Samoan and in former times these members did use English. However, more recently the Individual Voters (non Samoan) members have opted to use Samoan instead of English.

The opening and closing ceremonies of Parliament highlight the Samoan oral tradition as the district honorifics and lineages (jaalupega) of the whole of Samoa are acknowledged in oratorical style. Prior to the closing of Parliament, there is a Jaatau or verbal deliberation between contenders as to who will take the honour of displaying their oratorical skills in addressing all of Samoa (including

American Samoa). During Parliamentary d~bates there is a concurrent English 91

translation provided by an interpreter and broadcast for the Visitors Gallery and radio. Members rarely choose English although throughout the course of

their Samoan speeches they frequently use specific Englis~ words or phrases.

Language can be utilised for political and cultural purposes. The Western Samoan Parliament is a combination of the Westminister system and the Samoan traditional matai system. Aspects of these two systems emerge at different times and contexts and not in conflict because this too is an example of a colonial text interrogated within the terms of the Samoans' own system of cultural meanings. As a result the Parliamentary System of Western Samoa does not mirror that of Westminister but has aspects of both Samoan and English.

As Constitutional Advisor to pre-independent Western Samoa in 1960, J. Davidson (1967: 386) noted that:

knowledge of English... and its use by Samoans on formal occasions had gained acceptance. Although all but the European. members and the Constitutional Advisors delivered their speeches in Samoan, certain phrases (for example "point of Order, Mr. Chairman") were normally spoken in English, and some Samoan members occasionally used English to give added precision to a particular statement.

All members address the house in Samoan although they often still use English, especially during budget discussions when various English financial terms are used (followed immediately by an explanation if the term is not a familiar one). Nevertheless, English phrases inserted into the Samoan speech in parliament may emphasise particular points. In the Parliamentary session of November 1994 MP Talamaivao N. Masoe speaking against government in Samoan reverted to English to summarise what he had been saying in Samoan: "You are all accountable. This country is in a mess" and then resumed in Samoan.

A flood of new English words without Samoan equivalents are often used until 92 a translation has been added to the Samoan lexicon. It was generally understood (as Davidson noted) that in one's choice of language the

primary aim was the attainment of comprehensiveness and simplicity. Although only a small minority of the members was fully bilingual, a substantial number could comprehend an explanation in English provided it was simple enough. To the extent that I made myself understood in English, I reduced the unavoidable hazards of translation. Contemporary illustrations, from Samoa or elsewhere, and references to Samoan history and tradition were frequently used to clarify difficult points (387).

During this same time, when the Constitution of Western Samoa was being formed, a Samoan member Patomaleifi Siaki moved an amendment on Article 7 (Freedom from inhuman treatment) which read:

No person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. ·

He proposed ~he addition of the word "cruel" before the word "inhuman." and tried to explain:

I would like ... to try and draw the difference in the meanings of these words, "torture" and "cruelty". If I was to torture a person, I would have to contact him physically ... But... I could be cruel by merely looking at him or speaking to him with a very loud or cruel voice...

He argued that when a person was in a position of authority over another a look or a word could be as damaging as physical violence and this type of abuse of authority was more common in Samoa. Thus the purpose behind his proposal for this particular wording was to curb the harsh action of matai towards untitled men (389). Although the motion was defeated because of a "suggested difficulty in the judicial interpretation of the word 'cruel'" (ibid) it is clear that the motive behind the member's suggestion was a cultural one and the desire was to make sure the English version of the constitution conveyed certain meanings which were required by those for whom the constitution was to be applied. The use of this particular word, 'cruel' was to counter a cultural 93 situation in which words were regarded as effective as physical action.

Although the Samoan gover~ent consciously promotes the use of the Samoan language, especially in the public and civil service through directives such as:

all submissions, reports etcetera to Cabinet are to be in Samoan only. [Cabinet Minutes C.M. (89) (6)] · actual language use continues to be mixed. Prior to this particular directive, most, if not all, documentation to cabinet had been in English, but discussions had been in Samoan. Clarification on any issues sought by Cabinet members would be provided by the Cabinet Secretariat, his assis~ant, relevant staff, and consultants.

These discussions were often in a mixture of Samoan and English. It was and is vital that all terms or issues were clarified so that whatever was in English was understood in the same way in Samoan. Today the same kinds of discussions take place although Samoan is now also the language of documentation - making it easier for some members to understand the issues at hand. However there are many English and other foreign terms which do not have Samoan equivalents so what we do a lot now is also · to create Samoan terms and bracket the English term until that new Samoan term is well known and accepted as common usage. Examples of such terms are "virement" which we now translate to Samoan as virameni; "asset" has become aseta, and "budget" has no single word but is known in descriptive terms -tala faatatau o le tupe. I think we have to.accept that Samoan can only develop and become a rich language like the English language if we use it in all fields such as in government and commerce where English has predominated in practice. Many government employees found this directive difficult at first but now most feel a lot more confident with the actual usage and practice of their Samoan mother tongue. I think government has achieved its objective - le faatauaina- of placing value on Samoan by using it at government level and then the rest of the country will follow. It makes a lot of sense to use Samoan but it does not mean that English is no longer used as most documents have English counterparts and are carefully referred to if further clarification is needed. The provision in the Constitution! which states that the

1 From 1978 Reprint of the Statutes of Western Samoa 1920-1977 Vol. 1 94

English interpretation should take precedence if there is some doubt - in practice does not really take place. What really takes place is a more in-depth discussion and cross-checking so that the real meaning or essence of an issue is ascertained by referring to both versions; not so much that the English version has won over the Samoan version or vice versa. We are still basically maintaining our stand to be bilingual (S.M. Potoi, Secretary to Cabinet, pers. cornm. 14 Nov. 1994).

Many public servants do express the opinion that it is more difficult to write or translate into Samoan because although they may be fluent speakers, their professional training has largely been in English. Therefore, the words which express their thoughts and actions in their work place come more readily in English rather than Samoan. However as Potoi further commented, "With practice there has been a marked improvement which would not have occurred if there was no directive!" A retired public servant also explained-

When we use English, this does not mean that we are thinking as Palagi. No, it is just a practical or pragmatic exercise. Different kinds of thinking often overlap because our backgrounds and experiences have been mixed so you think, make decisions and express yourself in the most appropriate way within a particular set of circumstances. This can be in English or Samoan or a mixture of both languages. It really depends on where you are, your subject matter and who you are talking to. (pers. comm. May,1990)

A younger set of employees of the Public Service also experience differing degrees of competency and performance related largely to the frequency of English usage and experience with the language. As a recent young graduate working at the Prime Minister's Department explains:

Part V. Article 54. Languages- All debates and discussions in the Legislative Assembly shall be conducted in the Samoan language and the English language. (2) The Minutes and the debates of the Legislative Assembly, every bill introduced therein, every paper presented thereto. and all minutes of proceedings, minutes of evidence, and reports of committees of the Assembly shall be in the Samoan language and the English language. Part XI. Article 112. Authoritative texts - The Samoan and English texts of this Constitution are equally authoritative but, in case of difference, the English text shall prevail. 95

I have always spoken Samoan but have never developed it in this way because throughout secondary school in particular, it was always English for everything except for the few Samoan periods we had throughout the week. Since I've worked here at the PM's Department I thfuk my Samoan has improved a great deal - writing Samoan speeches, documents, clarifying certain issues; translating dC?cuments from English to Samoan, from Samoan to English and so on. Use of Samoan at this level and in this field is no longer a problem as it was in the earlier days when I first came in as a graduate feeling competent only in English even though I am Samoan and can speak and write in Samoan. However this confidence in Samoan I think remains largely confined to my work place - I still do not feel confident in speaking to any matai or a group of older people outside of my work place and those who I may not be familiar with- and where the language I use must be appropriate to their status and the nature of our relationship. Yet in English I'm not worried at all I always know how to speak in any situation except of course that English is not the appropriate language in many situations. (S. Fualautoalasi, assistant officer to cabinet secretary, pers comm. 14 Nov.1994)

Although circumstances which require the use of one language over the other and the notion of subtractive bilingualism (where one can dominate the other) are a concern for the government, examples of hybridity continue to abound and seem to also cater well for different situations. Government administrators use a mixture of English and Samoan in their everyday language as in casual conversations and formal meetings even when all present are Samoan.

Language use in the Public Service and government departments, especially amongst the technical and professional circles, displays this hybrid language use in many forms. Formal, written communications within and between departments, institutions or other work places, often use a mixture of Samoan and English. A letter.or memo often begins with a Samoan form of address followed by an English content and ends with a signing off in Samoan.

Susuga Faiaoga (respected teachers) All exam scripts are due on Friday October, 1994. Faafetai lava.

Office meetings also exemplify this common practice of code switching. The formalities of greetings are in Samoan using Samoan forms of address to 96

acknowledge all who are present and to create a convivial environment in which the discussion takes place. Sometimes a prayer may also be said in English or Samoan by the chair or a participant. The meeting then proceeds in the formal way as adapted from English meeting procedures: the passing of minutes, the agenda, discussion, voting and closing of the meeting. At the close of the meeting the Samoan element may emerge again with a closing speech in Samoan or a prayer. There are several variations of this procedure determined by the situation or context: amongst Samoars only, the discussions are in Samoan or a mixture of English and Samoan; if there is a non-Samoan speaking participant in the meeting then it is likely that the meeting will be conducted mostly in English; if the subject and situation warrant Samoan speaking, then

someone will provide a concurrent or later tr~nslation for the non-Samoan speaking participant.

Effective communication depends upon the context of the situation in which the exchange takes place. In some contexts only one language will be used. In other contexts both can be used in varying proportions. Different linguistic circumstances are recognised by most speakers and their linguistic competence is therefore proven by the way they vary their use of language appropriately in relation to the context. Competence in English is also a mark of prestige and speakers may intend to impress others with frequent interspersals of English words within Samoan sentences or speaking entirely in English.

However, the occurrence of too many English words in one's speech in a context where it is not warranted may be scorned or criticized by comments such as nanu sao -too much English, fia siou- show off, faa fia poko--making out one is overly clever, sili- superior, and fia palagi - wanting to be seen as European. In both casual and formal expression, different individuals and groups consciously and unconsciously determine the extent of their English and Samoan facility, using one or the other or certain amounts of each in different 97 situations. Groups and individuals convey different messages with their use of language. This reveals a crucial feature of all post-colonial discourse environments: that hybridity itself, and the development of hybrid discourse, do not exist in a politically neutral environment. The issue of a dominant Western culture is always an issue and must be negotiated carefully by speakers who appropriate the language in a way that is regarded as culturally acceptable. Hybridity does not mean a neutral mixing of languages, but an interweaving of discourse which responds continually to the requirements of the speaking situation. The nuances of power inherent in the mixing of a dominant and a colonized language must also be negotiated as an integral aspect of the development of hybrid discourse.

The cultural resilience established by the matai system in Samoa ensures that cultural appropriation occurs from the basis of an extremely strong indigenous social structure, which can absorb institutions like the Methodist Church and discourses such as English into itself with no loss of cultural integrity. TJ:is has the effect of leveling the power balance present in any process of hybridization. Different domains in Samoa therefore show an acute awareness of language use and readily employ both languages for their desired purposes. The desire for comprehension is predominant and this often requires an awareness of who is speaking what to whom and when to ensure that the appropriate variety is chosen. Samoans today do not regard English, in itself, as a language of the colonisers, but a language introduced by the colonisers which may be appropriated and used innovatively in different domains: These various ways of using English within the Samoan context are evidence of a hybrid use of language by a hybrid Samoan society.

oOo 98

Chapter Four

A Post-Colonial Judicial System

11 But ifit is a case beyond any law? 11 Oliver said 11 There is no case beyond the lawr 11 the chief justice answered. "We may mistake in the rulingr we may be deceived by outward things and cunning talkr but there is no dispute between men ·which cannot be resolved in equity. And in its nature equity is from those between whom it existsr it is passion acting in lucidihJ. u Charles Williams Many Dimensions (1931)

11 Justice without mercy were extreme injury and pihj ·without equity plain partiality and that is as great tyranny not to mitigate laws as inequity to break them". Jolm Lyly Eupheus r Anatomy ofWit (1579)

"Samoa is a nationr people are sensitively aware of their own identity. They have continued to find the framework of their lives in the values and institutions of their own cultureu. J.W. Davidson Samoa mo Samoa (1967)

In this chapter I describe and analyse the Western Samoan post-colonial judicial system to show the co-existence of two judicial traditionsr the Western and the Matai system. Although this has often been referred to as a dualistic or dual system of justicer I will show that the co-existence has inevitably allowed both systems to impact upon each other to create a hybrid form of justice which includes both systems. The major question asked in this discussion is: to what extent does the traditional society appropriate the domain of Western law? In this formal domain it would seem difficultr as the conceptsr procedures and language used are predominantly English. However the discussion will show howr in a Western court setting in Western Samoar the Samoan people themselves who take part in the discourser significantly change the judicial system into a cross-cultural 99 or hybrid text. First, I describe the two systems and how they operate separately. Second, I show how these two systems interact to create a cross-cultural text. Third, I show the role and use of language as a form of adaptation and appropriation in this cross-cultural text. Finally, I discuss the significance of this cross-cultural text for contemporary Western Samoa.

The Two Systems : the Law Courts and the Village Fono.

The structure of the law courts in Western Samoa is an adaptation of the New Zealand Courts System which was derived from England when New Zealand became a colony of the British Empire in 1840 (Powles and Pulea 1988: 362). Responsibility for the interpretation and application of Constitutional law and basic human rights remains vested in English-style courts -- the Magistrates, Supreme and Court of Appeal. The official language of interaction is English, as stipulated by the Constitution (Part XL Article 112), although the necessity for Samoan translations is met by court interpreters. As a court of record the cour.ts transcribe its proceedings entire! y in English. Where there may be differences in interpretation the recorded English version holds precedence over the Samoan. Outside the state system lie the village fono, some 300 councils of matai or chiefs who administer matai made village law. Problems do arise from the duality of laws (see Shore 1982; Meleisea 1987; Duranti 1988; O'Meara 1990 and Powles 1992), and the laws do often conflict with each other, but generally they provide alternative frameworks for conflict resolution. As in other domains, the Western Samoan judicial system (as a social text) is characterised by hybridity and constant change. It has its own variants which distinguish it as a Samoan court which does not strictly conform to the strict technical English version from which it was originally adapted. 100

When entering the Supreme Court of Western Samoa the first obvious feature is the physical layout of the room (see diagram below). The elevation of the Judge1s

seating arrangement denotes that person1s high status and authority in this domain. Seated on either side of the judicial bench behind two long tables is the panel of Assessors or what is the equivalent of a Jury. For the purposes of the proceedings the Judge and the Assessors are technically referred to as the Bench. They directly face the Bar or the counsellors for the prosecupon and defence. These lawyers are also seated behind a long table and directly behind them are members of the public seated on long benches. To the right (facing the judge) is the dock within which the defendant is seated under the guard of a policeman and across to the left is the witness box. Seated directly in front of the judicial bench (behind a table) also facing the Bar is the stenographer and the court interpreter cum registrar. The Judge and lawyers wear court gowns and ties, the police are in uniform and the court interpreters in formallavalava, shirt and tie. Everyone else is dressed in casual to semi forma.l attire. Visual, concrete divisions and enclosures in the court reinforce the roles which different participants play in this domain. 101

LAYOUT OF THE SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN SAMOA

ENTRANCE/EXIT

JUDGE

ASSESSOR ASSESSOR

stenographer registrar

ENTRANCE I EXIT

BOXWITNESS I I THEDOCK

THE BAR

PUBLIC SEATING

ENTRANCE/EXIT 102

In the Samoan village context, the hierarchical rank and authority of different matai is a matter of general knowledge as is the procedure in a fono. However in the formal setting of the Samoan meeting or fono these are further confirmed by the seating arrangement. All are seated at the same level in a circle, rank indicated by place in that circle in relation to the house (front, back and sides) or house posts. The specific posts of the house in front of which the matai sit signify their rank. In this circular arrangement they also face another or others with whom they share the same ranking in terms of alii and tulafale titles. It is considered appropriate that people of the same rank be facing each other as is shown with the Alii on opposite sides of the £ale as well as Tulafale. Sometimes there may be other matai seated behind the main matai facing each other. These matai are deliberately seated behind the main matai because they are usually the au tapuai or their supporters. There is nothing more that is visually distinct in this seating arrangement to an outside observer, an ordinary circle of casually dressed people seated around the periphery of an empty house facing inwards.

Layout of Seating Arrangement for Fono inside Samoan Meeting House

TULAFALE

ALL FONO lvffilvffiERS ARE MAT AI ~· All Seated facing inwards ALII

ALL COMMUNICATION IN SAMOAN ~--- TULAFALE• • 103

The meeting does not begin until everyone is seated, although formal greetings are conveyed ar:td returned as members enter. The absence of a secretary or recorder in most meetings is not unusual, since the nature of different meetings determines whether there is a need for a written record. For example, when there are large numbers of material goods to be accounted for, or the composition of a written petition or a radio announcement required, there may be a failautusi (secretary). However for such matters as deliberations about social deviance or any other issues which require village fono sanctions or decisions, the meetings proceed throughout a single or several sessions without written record in accordance with oral tradition. This practice has been recognised by the Village Fono Act 1990: S4 which states :

Written records not required. No written record of any enquiry by a Village Fono into any allegation of village misconduct, or of any punishment imposed, need be kept...

The absence of written records also applies to such decisions largely relating to, enacted, and confirmed within, their immediate contexts. The following comparison outlines some significant differences between a court of law and village fono.

THE SUPREME COURT To establish guilt or innocence as decided by a judge through majorit11 vote on the part of assessors or jury. Recognises little or no responsibility for repairing social relations which have been disrupted by a crime.

THE VILLAGE FONO Guilt may already be established by the time of meeting. Ultimate aim of the meeting is to deliberate and achiev~ consensus on a plan of action that will restore peace and social order and avoid further social disruptions.

Throughout the court case, the defendant is normally present at all times and represented by a paid lawyer, an expert in this domain who has been trained in an overseas Western 104

university - usually Australia or New Zealand.

Throughout the fono, the offender may or may not be present. He is represented by the matai of his family who also carry the burden of his crime, the blemishing of their reputation and the collective task of finding the means to pay stipulated fines. Should he be present, admonishment and counseling is direct, each matai wishing to speak taking a turn at addressing the offender.

The court assertion of central authority to control violations against constitutional rights.

The assertion of village matai authority to control violations which disrupt social order and peace.

To mete out suitable punishment as befits the crime e.g. imprisonment and or fines. The family is not directly affected by the punishment - only indirectly as in seeking funds to pay a fine but imprisonment as an individual 'European 1 form of punishment does not affect and cannot be helped byfamily and communihj.

To mete out suitable punislunent as befits the crime but this punishment also affects transgressor•s family as it is deemed family responsibility to ensure that the fine whether in goods and/ or money is paid. Other forms of punishment (resulting from individual actions) may affect whole families as in banishment from the village or village affairs.

Judgments are made according to precedence and abstract theories ofWestern law such as 1 the concept of the 'reasonable man • Court cases rarely take place soon after an inddent. They also take place in a 'removed context• away from the village with deliberations and discussions undertaken by legal personnel ·who are largely strangers. A condition referred to by Giddens (1990) as 'disembedding and time and place distandation 1 therefore in modern structures: trust relations are vested in embedded abstract systems.

Judgments made within the Sa.moan fono are in absolute relation to their context hence, meetings within the village after an incident are almost immediate. Giddens (1990) refers to the over-riding importance of localised trust in pre-modern structures. A situation such as this illustrates pre-modern structures operating in a modern setting.

The 'turn taking• of speaking in court is standard. English and Samoan are used but English takes precedence to Samoan in terms of interpretation and recording. The English versions of questions are put first by the legal counsellor or presiding judge followed by a translation in Samoan. Speakers stand except for the Judge who remains seated at all times. 105

The right to speak and the order in which one speaks (in the fono) invariably depend on the cultural hierarchy of the village. All verbal interactions take place in the Samoan. language only while seated.

Decisions in the Supreme Court are made by the Judge alone or by the majoritt; in a panel of assessors.

Decisions in the village fono aim to achieve consensus on all matters concerned.

oOo

The Village Fono Act passed in 1990 by the Western Samoan Parliament adopted as its heading the following:-

AN ACT to validate and empower the exercise of power and authority by Village Fono in accordance with the custom and usage of their villages and to confirm or grant certain powers, and to provide for incidental matters.

This was a conscious move by Parliament to codify cultural practices and confirm them as legal concepts equal to Western practice in the existing courts of law. However the effect of the Village Fono Act 1990,like every other legislation, is subject to the Constitution. The next section of this discussion explains the importance of such cultural practices.

The Ifoga E fasi i upu To wound with words E teu i upu To restore with words Efofo i upu To heal with words

It is important to describe the ifoga because of its cultural significance in this domain. As an event or an action, it is a performative -- it does something (Austin 1962) --and it is an action which provides meaning and is therefore a 'text' 106

(Ricoeur 1971). Ifoga is a form of apologyl, a traditional event that takes place outside the court environment in the process of conflict resolution. Such an action, or series of actions, comprises an event, the effects of which are more humane and far reaching than those of the court's because it takes into account a much wider circle of people than the offender and victim. Ifoga validates the relevance and continuing strength of traditional systems and practices amidst modem day systems in Samoa. It is Samoan tradition continually seeking a place to affirm itself because the 'centre' as such, the central government, has adopted a modern, non­ Samoan system. A later discussion focusing on a court case also shows how Samoan tradition also seeks a place within this domain whereby further appropriation takes place.

'Ifo' means to bow. Ifoga as a Samoan cultural event is aimed at the restoration of harmonious social relations between people within the community through the expression of humility, courage and compassion. Members of the offender's family perform the ifoga and as such this Samoan term, referring to the action, also becomes a term (within this context) of reference for the group of people who perform the action. The offender is usually not part of this contingent as he (or she) would certainly be marked and his life would be more at risk than those who represent him. The offender is always admonished by parents and elders of the family. With words he is admonished, with silence he is reminded, with an ifoga he will be remembered. It is also likely that he would already have been taken into police custody to be charged as well as for protection. However, in a deeper sense, the offender is also punished by an ifoga because he has been the cause of family hardship.

1Olshtain and Cohen (1983: 18-35)in their article Apology: A speech Act Set discuss the notion of apology occurring within a discourse situation. As a speech act set an apology consists of a number of semantic formulas. The speakerj actor preference for one formula over another at a particular time relates to the particular discourse situation within which the speech act is performed. 107

An ifoga always begins at dawn. In semi-darkness members of the ifoga contingent ~rrange themselves quietly in front of the victim's house or the residence of the highest chief of the victim's family. Each member sits or crouches, bowing towards the house with his or her head and body covered with an opened fine mat. This timing is vital because it enables the group to assemble in the proper manner without possible intervention or threat from the victim's family. It is also symbolic of taeao fou 2 - new mornings or beginnings which the ifoga hopes to achieve. When the victim's family become aware of the ifoga they may react violently in which case the ifoga is not accepted and furth~r trouble may ensue or they may ignore the ifoga in which case the ifoga will sit in the sun or rain all day and onto the night until a response is given. Or, the ifoga may be accepted and . thereby asked to rise and then escorted into the house for a meeting. At other times the victim's family may already be forewarned and will invite the ifoga into the house immediately upon arrival.

Seated inside the house, the presentation of fine mats by the ifoga delegation to the offended family symbolises the faa Samoa expression of respect and brotherhood, especially during such times of adversity, when communal values are at risk. As in the formal presentation of fine mats on any occasion, the verbal response from the recipient of a fine mat is "Sao". Sao as a single word can literally mean silence and acknowledges silence itself as a powerful oratorical device. In the context of fine mat presentation and receiving, oratorical skill is highly valued. Yet the predominant utterance from the recipients of fine mats is "Sao". This can mean silence and acceptance becaus.e the reconciliatory and healing spirit in which a fine mat is offered, its material, aesthetic and symbolic value,

2 taeao or mornings are a metaphor for significant events in the history of Samoa. Mornings as such are an inherent part of a formal Samoan speech in which certain important occasions are acknowledged first and then lead up to the taeao fou -the new morning or that particular occasion upon which the new speech is performed. See also Duranti 1981, 1983 (cited in Crystal1987: 49)-1992; also Tu'i 1987. 108

speaks for itself and therefore occasions a silence which also speaks. Material goods such as food and money are also presented and these are done so within the same oratorical context whereby they are offered together with words, as symbolic efforts at restoration and reconciliation. These are of no value without the words which accompany them as offerings and the words which receive them as being accepted. Bloch (1975) refers to the role of traditional oratory in maintaining the status quo and Duranti (1981) points to the role of formalised language in the production of the existing social order. Keesing (1990) also refers to the power of talk in conflict resolutions. It is clear from such events as the ifoga that formalised language or traditional oratory can also protect people through the existing social order. Traditional oratory accounts for inter-CO!ffiections and relationships which, in a context of violation seek to solve the immediate problem but more important seek to look beyond an individual's transgression to communalfaaleleiga (reconciliation) and teuteuga (restoration of harmony). It is recognised that the sole punishment of an o~fender does not always deter further repercussions.

Faamatuainu Faafetai Tui (1987) also confirms oratory as the agent of reciprocity in all major ceremonies, and the main tool by which the indigenous social structure is maintained. The exchange of words in the form of lauga or traditional speeches express the desire to faamagalo - be forgiven, to teuteu le va - restore a harmonious relationship, and to fofo le faafitauli- to heal the damage that has been done. Rarely is an ifoga rejected even though that possibility always exists. The general pattern of an ifoga is the same - some, more dramatic or impressive than others or slight variations with different cases. in terms of what happens or how it progresses.

It is not always exactly the same with each case although the same meaning and intention is clear. For example some orators are more powerful and brave with their words than others. They are confident 109

and fearless even in the face of dangerous circumstances. I remember as a youth I took part in an ifoga. Upon arrival the taulelea (young men) saw us and immediately threatened us with violence and were on the verge of attack. Our orator who was also connected to this village through kinship stood unaffectedly and called the high chief of this village by name and said Taofi au taifau- E le zloa maio tagata? (Stop your dogs- do they not see that these are people?) (Vaai Kolone [1911-] (pers comm, Dec 1993)

The profound interpretative potential of such words is deliberate, the steadfastness of the orator in this high-risk situation is impressive. To humble oneself publicly by lowering one1s status is an act of humility (which raises one's status in the eyes of others), a human act which calls for a humane response although the high risk of danger is always present. The act of humility, of lowering oneself is not a total loss of face and power either, as the orat?r displayed in his reaction, his stance and choice of words. The offended family's tamalii or noble behaviour is hoped for by the ifoga. The orator1s reference to the taulelea implied firstly, that he recognised that they were taulelea -lower in status to his matai station and despite his precarious position he was a matai. Secondly, that they (the taulelea) risked lowering themselves to the level of animals if they did not recognise the 'visiting' party as humans or remember human values and behaviour which are called for and are of utmost importance in such delicate circumstances. So, from the beginning, where the offender may be admonished or punished with words we observe the way in which words are actions in the Samoan sense: E fasi, e teu, e fofo i upu- to wound, to restore, to heal with words.3

The term faiga upu - making words, to 'do1 with words clearly attests to

Austin1s 'doing1 with words whereby the words are the act itself. When the lauga or

3When a Samoan youth killed two Tongan children (14 Dec, 1993) in a hit and run accident, an ifoga from the Samoan family to the Tongan family took place and was accepted. When the offender was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment there were protests from the Tongan family and church community that the matter had been settled and to send him to prison was the loss of another life. (New Zealand Herald, Feb. 41994) 110

speeches are delivered there is certitude that a word or words are powerful enough to restore a breach of the social order. This social order is also emphasized by the well defined and constituted pattern of the speech itself which reaffirms the immutable hierarchies of the matai system, while searching for an appropriate healing solution- se fofo which restores order in a world which has been disrupted by the transgression of social norm.S. This pragmatic goal of conflict resolution is acted out in word and deed by this confrontation of the problem. Physically, one side arrives upon the actual site where the other side is- seeking a space- avanoa­ where a discourse can take place. The discourse is in the event- made up of words and actions. The arrival on the site, the bowing, the shielding of the body and the person with the fine mat, the greetings and moyement into the house, the words which are exchanged, the symbolic fine mats and material goods which are presented and accepted, the restoration of harmony, the creation of a new morning.

I£ all this does not take place, the social divide remains,-- ugly to the eye, destructive to the soul of a small community. The act of ifoga speaks for itself for the action is just as meaningful as the words. This also accords with the notion of 'meaningful action considered as text' as proposed by Ricoeur (1971: 527). Like writing, action also makes its mark and Ricoeur (537, 542) refers to this textualisation process as the 'social fixation' of human behaviour. Such actions no longer belong nor are relevant only to their ostensive, initial situations but contribute to the emergence of patterns which become documents of human behaviour;

the meaning of an important event exceeds, overcomes, transcends, the social conditions of its production and may be reenacted in new social contexts (543).

The ifoga is therefore not confined to its initial, contingent situation but "projects a Ill world which is more than a situation" (560). This world is an ensemble of references opened up by texts and, ifoga as a text therefore is also metonymic of the Samoan culture or world. The action as text displays a local inscription of difference from·the 'Other' -the imported European Judicial system. It is a change from a predominance of the modern and imported to traditional and local, a change of situation which alters the language used and the procedures that take place.

The Interaction of Judicial Systems

Although I have described the two systems separately, the fact that the two co-exist inevitably leads to interaction. In the official Europeanised domain of the cour~ faa Samoa does insert itself, and interacts with the formal processes of western legal procedure. For example, in cases where an ifoga had taken place it was common practice, though not part of the official legal proceedings (until recently with the passing of the Village Fono Act 1990), for the defense counsel to refer to and acknowledge that the matter had been settled in the traditional Samoan way. The offender is not necessarily exonerated from the prescribed punishment should that be the court ruling but the fact that traditional practices continue to take place and now acknowledged in a modern court setting attests to the fact that the system in practice is a hybrid one.

The police also carry out their duties as prescribed by the legal codes leading up to a trial. Often in the villages the police themselves are recognised by their matai titles as well as being officers of the law so that their status is a merging of the two rather than separate entities. It is common practice for police officers with aiga or kinship connections in a particular village to be the ones who approach that village in the name of the law. If the offender is charged for the 112 offence (for which his family has had to perform the ifoga) and convicted upon trial, the fact that the courts are bound by law to pass sentence demonstrates a dying twice for the same act.

The Village Fono Act 1990: S.8 addressed this situation and stated:-

Where punishment has been imposed by a village Fono in respect of village misconduct... the Court shall take into account in mitigation of sentence the punishment imposed by that village Fono.

This effectively means that the hybridity is official and the court is duty bound to recognise traditional practice that has taken place rather than being mentioned as an aside during the legal proceedings.4

Another (unofficial) practice referred to as the hand up at the back still takes place at the time of sentencing. An elderly person of stature or recognised social rank such as a family matai, mother or father of either defendant or complainant will raise his or her hand and ask for the opportunity to say something on behalf of the defendant. This takes the form of a short speech in Samoan which may acknowledge reconciliation of both parties, the desire to be responsible for the offender and ultimately pleading for mitigation.s This talosaga or formal plea is also a cultural insertion into an English based court of law. The speaker who is not part of the legal framework as such raises his or her hand and asks for avanoa- a space or an opportunity in which to speak for this is not the norm in this particular domain where he or she has no specified place except as a member of the general listening public. In the same vein as an ifoga, the plea is for compassion as well as

4 Powles (1988) states that years ago many people assumed that traditional elements would soon be totally replaced, but this has not been so, nor is it likely to be. Each Pacific country is developing a unique amalgam of local and foreign precedents in creating its own system of justice. 5Duranti (1992) refers to flexibility and adaptability of cultural practices such as 'lauga' ceremonial speech making - aspects of which are selectively used as in a fono and as I observed in the formality of the plea or 'talosaga' delivered in court. Duranti refers to this variable use of the ceremonial genre in Samoa as 'heteroglossia in Samoan oratory.' 113 acknowledging communal responsibility for the defendant. The emphasis in such a plea is usual! y to enlighten the court regarding fines and other forms of punishment imposed by the Fono. Furthermore, the plea for leniency normally includes an explanation of the Fono's role as arbitrator in ensuring the peaceful reconciliation between the parties and the resulting restoration of harmony in the village as a whole. Such pleas are more often than not taken into account in the sentencing process. However, the occurrence of such incidents also points to the role playing of those in leadership positions. It does not matter so much if their plea is disregarded. What matters is that they tried and ar~ seen to be doing their duty as matai or figures of authority and that they are present at the court, acknowledging responsibility for one of their own, even in domains where they technically have no acknowledged power.

The Role and Use of Language

The use of the English and Samoan languages also transforms the formal, legal, non-Samoan domain of the Supreme court into a hybrid one6. First I discuss some culturally influenced variations which are included in Samoan translations. Secondly and more crucially I discuss the meaning of the concept of the Reasonable Man which is so vital in the deliberations of a Court of Law. The translations of English into Samoan are interspersed with Samoan forms of address which establish cultural connections and of course are absent from the English script recorded by the stenographer. A simple example occurs when elderly men or women are referred to by the Samoan interpreter as tina (mother) and tama (father) even though the English utterance does not use such forms of address. For

6 Lane (1985) examines similar issues in his article Mis-communication in Cross-examinations. His research takes place in Auckland (NZ) courts in which he compares the cross-examination of native speakers of English with that of witnesses who speak English as a second language: See also Penman (1987) Discourse in Courts: Cooperation, Coercion, and Coherence. 114 example: Counsel: please speak up. Interpreter: faamolemole tuutuu i luga lou leo tina. (please raise your voice mother)

In their use of Samoan to Samoans, court interpreters may also choose to use their own group dynamics or the language use of their own speech community 7 which are also linked to cultural norms. Samoan honorifics or personal forms of address, which indicate cultural politeness and knowledge on the interpreter's part, are employed regardless of their absence in English. Words or noun phrases indicating rank such as susuga and afioga are also used in place of a person's name, or preceding their name (a similar practice in English is when one uses 'your honour' to address a judge or saying it before his or her name), together with a range of other lexical items used in accordance with who is speaking what to whom and when.s

In a second example, it is also notable that the Samoan variant or register used by the court interpreters is always the formal' t' register whereas the witnesses are free to use the informal'k' variant. Some witnesses start with using' t' and then switch to 'k' because they are more familiar with the latter colloquial variety. Some have also switched codes amongst English and the two Samoan variants. Often, Samoan speakers will use English words freely to clarify or emphasize what they are saying in Samoan. Again, different people at different

7 Labov (1970) refers to shared attitudes to language, language is also part of participation in a set of shared norms. Also Dell Hymes (1972) and Halliday (1972) where the definition of speech community puts emphasis on a group of people who feel themselves to be a community rather than just knowing a common language. Le Page (1968) states 'each individual creates the systems for his verbal behaviour so that they shall resemble those of the group or groups with which from time to time he may wish to be identified and adapt his behaviour accordingly. Milroy and Milroy (1985) identify covert prestige as being strongly related to community or group identity, people recognise each other as 'related' and covertly acknowledge identity. 8 Fishman's (1965, 1972) concept of 'domains' refers to choice of language in a bilingual community which varies from domain to domain. Domains therefore are congruent combinations of a particular kind of speaker and addressee, in a particular kind of place, tall

times and situations employ varying degrees of Samoan and English together or separately.

Therefo~e, part of the verbal behaviour displayed by Samoan interpreters and witnesses is their inclusion of Samoan terms of address which are appropriate in their va faa le tagata - relationship to another person as another human being - specifically in this local context as another Samoan. These are acceptable (in the official sense) in so far as they do not affect or change the meaning of the legal text. The record, however, is English, so the social consideratipns appropriate to Samoan discourse are not part of the court record for they" are only required for the immediate oral-cultural context.9 It is also clear that most witnesses are ill at ease in this domain, unsure as to whom they should address themselves to - whether to the Judge, the interpreter or the legal counsel. Questions are asked by the counsel, translated by the interpreter but addressed to an abstract - the court as in the

question 11 Would you please tell the court... ? 11

Translations are an inherent part of the Western Samoan Supreme Court and can cause problems. An elderly assessor (Mrs. Lisi Vaai pers comm. Nov. 1993), a former School Principal and Public Service Commissioner, commented on the long hours of deliberation due to the translation process. She also expressed her concern over the varying degrees of competency in English amongst court

11 11 interpreters- especially their grammar • This sometimes led to confusion either in the meaning of the English statement translated to Samoan, or the meaning of the Samoan statement translated into English.IO As well, translations also prolong the

9 Geertz (1960: 248) refers to 'local knowledge' which affects the ways people speak to each other 'it is almost impossible to say anything without indicating the social relationships between the speaker and the listener in terms of status and familiarity. Goffman's 'front and back regions' can also be applied in that the court requires formal and stylised roles 'onstage performances'. These require a certain form and style of language utilised to elicit the required or desired answers or reactions. 10 Kafui. (1982: 148-165) discusses the social significance of speech in legal settings and states that communication accuracy in legal settings such as police and suspects clients and lawyers, attorneys and 116 progression of a court case which could be shortened if one language was used depending on who the participants were for specific court cases. For example in most Lands and Titles Court cases, Mrs. Vaai said that it was a relief not to have to go through translations when a Samoan Judge was presiding. However on this same issue the late Justice J. G. Dillon from New Zealand remarked that;

The effect of translation was mixed. As a non Samoan speaker it gives me more time for thought and consideration as a Judge - although sometimes through a translation the impact of a tough question or the innuendoes or underlying meanings in a statement may be lost (pers comm Nov. 1993).

In the opinion of Samoan Chief Justice Tiavaasue F. Sapolu:

The time taken for translations could be useful for bilingual assessors and all other court participants. In fact, the extra time for 'thought' admittedly could be beneficial to lawyers, assessors, judges and criminals alike. l:fowever, it would be difficult but not impossible to conduct entire cases in Samoan even when all participants are Samoan. The main reason why the court is conducted in English is because all Samoan practitioners are trained in English and in their delivery, the legal jargon comes more readily in English. At times there are difficulties with translations and if there are discrepancies it is crucial that they be corrected at the time in which they occurred. English takes precedence so it is also pragmatic for lawyers and Judges who preside to address the court in English because in cases of appeal the English transcript takes precedence being the only written record (pers comm Oct 1993).

The Criminal Procedure Act 1972: S.3 addresses the bilingual situation in Samoa. Language of documents. Where a document is served on any person who is known to the Registrar to be able to read and understand English, it shall be written in English but in every other case it shall be written in Samoan or be accompanied by a translation into Samoan.

These concerns with the hybrid situation of the court are specifically highlighted

witnesses, judges and juries can be a problem because of the professional language of lawyers. This is also applicable to the situation where not only is the legal language specialised it is also a different language altogether as in the case of Western Samoa. 117 by the predicament of translation. The following diagram illustrates the cross­ cultural nat_ure of the situation in the Supreme Court in Western Samoa. 118

COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OBSERVED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN SAMOA

ENTRANCE/EXIT

JUDGE

ASSESSORS ASSESSORS

#~ ~ '" .. .. '"· .. # # • ...... • .. # • .. •· • • ENTRANCE I EXIT ...... "' .. .. 4...... BOX .. A. ~ I I THEDOCK 21 I I,, I MEDIA I I v I I PUBLIC SEATING I I I I

ENTRANCE/EXIT ( stenographer and 1 Questions and Replies 0 futerpreler J registrar 2 Talosaga (a plea) -- Samoan Only All conununication to "Hand at the back" J English Only witnesses and assessors (interpolation by interested party) 4 Sentence .. ---.. Translated 119

In this next section I therefore present a case within a case study as a means of illustration: I refer to this case as:

The Concept Of "The Reasonable Man"

The reasonable man is the rman on the street• or the 'man in the Clapham omnibus• or as I recently read in an American author, 'the man who takes the magazines at home, and in the evening pushes the lawn mower in his shirt sleeves.' (Law Report: Kings Bench Division 1933:224)

A recent appeal on a criminal case decision [Koko & Sione vs Police Nov. 1993) was presented on the grounds of an anomaly in translation. The trial Judge used the words "A reasonable Samoan" in reference to justified reaction to provocation on the part of the offenders. The interpreter translated this phrase as 0 se tamalii Samoa ua lelei atoatoa Zona faiai... The literal English translation of such a description was that of- a Samoan high chief whose brain or mind is in excellent condition.

The main problem is that there is no single isolated Samoan term corresponding directly and literally with the word-- reasonable-- therefore the translation is always descriptive and often varies from one interpreter to another. This Appeal however was dismissed by three (non-Samoan speaking) appeals Judges stating (in part):

We have no doubt that the direction in the Samoan language is a misdirection in law if taken in isolation. The standard to be applied is of the ordinary or reasonable Samoan not a Samoan high chief whose brain, or mind, is in excellent condition..... It must also be remembered that the Assessors heard the correct direction in English and whilst we cannot be certain it is probable at least some of the Assessors spoke and understood English. (Western Samoa Law Report 1994: C.A. 11/92).

The Samoan translation of'a reason~ble Samoan' is a subject of debate for 120

both lawyers and interpreters. To choose the correct Samoan words to convey the meaning of ordinariness in the concept of 'reasonable man' is often elusive yet vital. A Samoan lawyer stated that an ordinary Samoan living an ordinary life in Samoa produces a reasonable Samoan but the Samoan court translation sometimes raises that standard to an extraordinary Samoan which is not the standard by which a person should be judged. He explained

To take into account the Samoan cultural context in defining the 'reasonable Samoan' should not mean that the standard to be judged by is that of a high chief. A person does not have to be a high chief or an extraordinary person to be reasonable.

This notion of'a reasonable man' was also vital in a murder trial which I observed for three days, 9, 10, 11, November 1993. According to the evidence of the case, the victim was the son of the defendant's sister. He had been drunk, abusive and threatening both to the defendant's person as an elderly family matai and the rest of their own family on a Sunday. After his offensive demonstration he had walked away but the 57 -year-old matai had reacted by taking up a gun and following his nephew. A struggle ensued between the two and the nephew was killed by a gunshot. As part of the defence in summing up, defence counsel Tuala K. Enari highlighted that the incident was a family matter and the accused had clearly been provoked. He stated:

... the things that matter to a Samoan dictate whether his actions were that of a reasonable man.

The accused however was j?dged by assessors and found guilty, punishable by death although subject to application for a commuted sentence. Enari (pers comm; Nov. 1993) commented after the trial that although the notion of the Reasonable Samoan man was part of the defence it was nevertheless open to interpretation by different people including the assessors. For example, the accused could also have 121

been seen as unreasonable in a Samoan sense in that, as a matai he should have

been more ~control of his anger even though he was provoked and perhaps should have waited patiently until his nephew was in a better state of mind and then, have reprimanded him or dealt with him in the fono.'

When this court case began, the family had been reconciled, and accepted this event only as an inevitable but unfortunate continuation of their grief. A large number of them came in from the village every day to form the tapuaiga or provide

moral support for their matai and family member. Durin~ court recess they sat together outside assessing the legal exchanges which had taken place in court, sometimes joking, laughing and talking of other things to relieve the serious atmosphere of the court. As well, they organised basic concerns such as food for their group and transport back to the village at the end of each day. Despite the unfortunate circumstances this was a social event in which their solidarity as a village and family was also made evident.

In court, theirs was a silent communication conducted unobtrusively by eye contact and their mere presence. As they entered the court their gaze was always upon him, his on them. Local knowledge confirmed that the defendant was not the usual menace or threat to society therefore during a court recess he was not marched out and taken into custody. Instead he was allowed to sit and talk with his wife and children outside the side entrance to the court. At other recess times he remained at the dock where he and his police guard sat and chatted. The strict formalities of the (Goffmanian 'front stage') court were absent when it was in recess.

The cross-communication which took place in this court case exemplified . the general situation in a Samoan court of law. The Judge and legal counsel spoke 122

English only. The prosecutor was a New Zealand European who did not speak Samoan, the defence lawyer and Chief Justice were both Samoan and bilingual but spoke only in English within these specific roles. The court interpreter was bi­ lingual but his translations in English were at times influenced by the Samoan ' constructions uttered by witnesses. For example, when a witness was asked whether she saw Ieremia during the time of the struggle which culminated in firing the rifle she replied, "Masalo sa i ai Jeremia ae ou te le iloa aua o le taimi lena ua tau le mautonu le mafaufau aua le vevesi". A literal translation of this statement could be, 'Perhaps Ieremia was there but I do not know, because I was a little confused at the time of the scuffle.' However, the court interpreter's translation of the witness's statement was, "Maybe Ieremia was there, I do not know- because of the struggle, I had instability of the mind." In the Samoan language it is common to refer to oneself indirectly. Shore (1982: 173) tries to explain by stating that Samoans commonly talk about actions and feelings as if the body were a decentralized agglomeration of discrete parts, each imbued with its own will. Hence the interpreter's translation in English referring to the witness having had 'instability of the mind' rather than " I was confused or upset" was very much a Samoan construction which became apparent in the translation.

The last part of this cross-cultp.ral text in the courtroom poignantly illustrated the dilemma that persists. After the sentencing, the formal domain of the court became dismantled with the departure of the legal personnel except for the police guard. He also stood aside as the tapuaiga lined up to meet and embrace the defendant. Theirs was a quiet grief, his was one of dignified acceptance as he said to them, "E sese lava o au" -The wrong is mine. Again such words have more meanings than one. Firstly they were an acknowledgment of the tapuaiga which had been formed because of him. That they did not win the case did not take away 123

from the strength and mamalu or dignity of the tapuaiga and their solidarity. If anyone was to be blamed for their collective grief it was himself and his error. Hence, they had lost their case in a context which was not really part of their daily lives although they were fully aware of its existence and accepted the justice that it meted out. Nevertheless their own sense of identity and belonging was strengthened -- by coming together as usual in a time of hardship. The social interaction that was part of the family and the village and tradition was brought into the domain of the court because 'these are the things that matter to a Samoan• . . (Tuala K. Enari 1993) and these are the things that will persevere to create the hybrid texts of contemporary Samoa.

The Significance of the Judicial'Text' for Contemporary Western Samoa

The post-colonial Judicial system in Western Samoa provides a case study which shows that although the setting and the format of the Western Samoa Supreme court is heavily structured and oriented towards the New

Zealand/ British model from which it is derived, Samoan cultural considerations and practices are inserted into the interstices of this text through words and actions. This process is inevitable because the people interacting in this discourse are Samoans.

Such words and actions may also represent defence strategies which Samoans consciously employ to protect aspects of their culture or way of life which they deem valuable against introduced ways. This accords with Habermas• notion of Communicative Action which

serves the transmission and renewal of cultural knowledge, the continuation of stable institutions (' society•) and the socialisation of accountable persons. Communicative action does not only draw on explicit knowledge. It takes place against the background of an enormous fund of non-explicit, taken-for-granted notions, which 124

have great influence on the interpretation of explicit utterances. Following a phenomenological tradition in philosophy and sociology here, Habermas uses the term 'Lifeworld' to indicate this background. Though this 'Lifeworld' has great influence on the endless range of interpretive activities which constitute social life, we cannot become conscious of it as a whole and sum it up in a series of neat propositions. There is always a horizon behind a horizon. Agents draw on their common objective, social or subjective world. They harmonise their plan of action on the basis of a common definition of the situation, and the 'stock of knowledge' provided by the Lifeworld serves as a resource in this. In using elements of the Lifeworld they also renew and change it (Habermas 1987: II 139 cited in Brand 1990: 34-44).

For Habermas, communicative action which takes place in the Lifeworld.. .is also an activity in which agents 'develop, confirm, and renew their memberships in social groups and their own identities'(35). Habermas also proposes that through language

the interpretative reconstruction of reasons makes it necessary for us to place 'their' standards in relation to 'ours' so that in the case of a contradiction we either revise our preconceptions or relativize 'their' 1 standards of rationality against 'ours • We cannot understand reasons without at least implicitly evaluating them (1985: 204 cited in Brand 1990: 33).

The ritual use of sacred symbols and traditions in the past had been passively accepted and kept societies integrated. In the modern world Habermas asserts that social integration is more and more a matter of communicative action through language or what he calls the 'linguistification of the sacred' (67-83). This means that what is valued or sacred to a society is no longer passively accepted because it is deemed sacred. Instead, through language and other forms of communication we come to understand the reasons why values, sacred beliefs and practices are important in that they can operate to keep a society integrated so as not to lapse into conditions of precarious existence. These conditions are evidenced in human 125

conditions such as alienation, anomie and the loss of meaning in the contemporary" world.

Social relations are of the utmost importance in S~oa, and therefore the traditional hierarchy, rituals and ceremonies which maintain them for the peace and order of the community, are venerated. Words and actions are often interpreted and acted upon in the context of social relations. Teu leva; to re­ arrange and maintain a situation which brings about peace and order between

individuals and groups is vital for everyday living (as al~eady explained earlier). The term va has several meanings. It can mean several things, such as space,

distance, conflict or relationship depending on the context in which it is used. II The plurality of meanings in this term indicates the importance of the creation of that space which allows for human choice, manoeuvering and interaction in a discourse which may at times seem discursive but retains a distinct and secure thread of meaningfulness derived from its social context. The social context, it must .be remembered, is not homogenous. It is within such spaces of time and place, within spaces of 'texts' whether they be spoken, acted or written that discourses are conducted and meanings formed. It is clear that the more absolute dictates and · procedures which lead up to what is called 11justice11 in the western sense are more individualistic therefore different from those observed in communal faa Samoa.

Many village rules aim to counter and resist blatant refusals to observe culture and tradition, for example in young people's mode of dress and appearance. Older villagers continue to resist strongly those practices which, in

II "va" is ambiguous and can only be defined by the context of its usage for example leva i le puipui o le fale: the gap or space in the wall of the house Ia i ai Ieova i lo tatou va: May Jehovah be between us Tai lua futu eva aile totoina o laau: Plant the trees two feet apart. Mamao le va o Samoa rna Ausetalia: there is a great distance between Samoa and Australia. E oo lo matou va ile faamasinoga: our conflict will end up in court. E lelei lerna varna lou tina.: I have a good relationship with my mother. 126 their view, conflict with their perception of the maintenance of culture and tradition. At the same time, these objections may, technically, be violations of one's constitutionally provided basic human rights. There have been serious cases which have highlighted this dilemma of communal and individualistic concerns. The most recent one was in September 1993 (the Lona affair) where a man was regarded as acting in a socially disruptive manner over a period of time within the village setting. Culturally, the man's actions could have been interpreted by the village fono as a threat to harmony and consensus. However, he may have considered that he was acting within his constitutional rights. He was subsequently shot dead for refusing to abide by village law. Police commissioner Galuvao referred to the incident as a 'contradiction in the faa Samoa and the constitutional law' (Samoa Times 28 Sept. 1993).

The conflict between communal and individual rights was at the heart of the matter. Of the constitutional system Galuvao also explained, "Lack of knowledge on how the system works in this country is the reason for this." He also stated that the Samoans should never have introduced Constitutional laws and should instead have used the faa Samoa to guide them: "There are other ways in our culture to solve problems ... The village council is well respected within the system-- as long as it doesn't step out of line and produce such results" (Samoa Times 28 Sept. 1993). Village matai were subsequently arrested and charged. This incident amongst others (for example (Meleisea 1987: 216-220) in 1981 the Matautu bus boycott incident; 1989 the Salelologa burning; the Neiafu Umu incident) highlighted a long-standing and continuing conflict between the faa Samoa which requires conformity and consensus, and the basic freedoms of the individual provided by the Constitution.

The fact is, disembedded mechanisms of abstract and expert systems (such 127

as the constitution, law and bureaucracy) whereby social relations are removed from the immediacies of context, are part of cross-cultural modern Samoa. In the Western context, conflicts and crimes are largely deliberated in a neutral context with 'expert strangers' (Giddens 1990: 130) acting on behalf of certain groups or individuals. A consequence of modernity, according to Giddens is the specialisation of systems and experts. This has already been mentioned in the comparison between the court and the fono whereby the court is often conducted in a neutral (or strange) context and the deliberations are largely undertaken by expert practitioners who are strangers. "The faith that supports trust in expert systems involves a blocking off of the ignorance of the lay person when faced with the claims of the expertise." However, as seen in the Samoan example, the expert system is not totally successful in its exclusivity. The ifoga in the village context, and raising a hand in court, show that the local lay people take part ~:m their own terms, which may also be seen as a specialised, "expert" skill. Rights are protected by a constitution which is a written abstract document referred to, and largely interpreted by, specialists or experts. In the Samoan context, meanings and interpretations of conduct are lived thinking, acting and controlling processes closely connected to the structuring and protection of immediate social relations.

The examination of this case study therefore shows that the two systems of justice which co-exist in Western Samoa can illustrate the idea of meaningful action considered as text suggested by Ricoeur;

human action like a text is an' open work' ... it opens up new references and fresh interpretations which decide their meaning. (1971: 544)

Meanings are not only inscribed in processes of speech and writing. Whatever signifies or has meaning can be considered part of discourse. Foucault asserts that meanings 128

... are embodied in technical processes, in institutions, in patterns of general behaviour, in forms for transmission and diffusion, and in pedagogical forms. (1977a: 200 cited in McDonnell1991: 4)

The discourse or the text in the situation of this case study is hybrid as can be seen by the use of the two different languages and the actions which take place. They clearly illustrate the co-existence of traditional, pre-colonial and the modern, post­ colonial structures which do not remain separate but in fact cross and create hybrid structures.

This case study also shows the capacity of a discourse or text to appropriate various new elements to its structure and development. It is clear that language appropriation is difficult in the formal domain of the. court. As long as the legal profession is bound by the English record it will continue to maintain its preference for speaking in English inside the legal domain of the court. The law is so technical when it comes to interpretations that merging languages may provide difficulties in establishing clear meanings for all concerned. This is exacerbated by the lack of formal training for court interpreters who may not be adept at handling the translations of technical terms, are often ignorant of court procedures and often misinterpret, with the result that the client on the stand is confused and distressed (Powles and Pulea 1988: 39). Of the two languages used in the Samoan courts, it is the second language, English, which predominates, not the mother tongue. For many who end up in court Samoan is their main language if not only language as the degree of competency in English varies greatly amongst the Samoan population. The appropriation is more obvious in the area of actions and what takes place rather than language per se. Language appropriation is more covert, for example when interpreters translate from English to Samoan they not only translate the legal jargon but also include the Samoan terms of address which are not compulsory in the domain of the court but nevertheless fitting in the situation 129

of Samoans addressing other Samoans in their Samoan language. In other words, it

may be con~trued that within the confines of this domain, which is formal like the fono, certain cultural conventions can be observed. Albeit minimal, terms of address, as well as a level and selection of vocabulary or lexical items in Samoan, accord with the formality of the situation and endeavour to convey the same meanings as those in English which are crucial to the task of the legal personnel.

In this Western Samoan text the idea of authenticity no longer has its location in the purity or preservation of actions or beliefs, but in the ways in which people deal with their everyday lives. These are discourses within texts or works which 'open up new references and fresh interpretations1 making particular lives meaningful and also authentic within their own developing contexts. This authenticity does not rest in purity or homogeneity but in adaptation and transformation. No situation is exactly like any other because each context has its own unique conditions. In this domain, the uses of language, the modern and cultural practices within the two systems, indicate a cross-cultural hybrid text that is still being developed. Its authenticity or truthfulness is context-bound by changing time, place and people as are all other meanings. It corresponds closely with Habermas1 notion of Communicative Action in that a text as such, serves the transmission and renewal of cultural knowledge, the continuation of stable institutions ('society') and the socialisation of accountable persons.

As in post-colonial writing this social text of two inter-relating systems offers an example of post-colonial cross-culturalism. The metonymic assertion of difference in this post-colonial text is not only one of language but also of significant social practices which become part of the merging of a colonial past and a post-colonial present. As explained by Ashcroft et al. in relation to language, "The local culture, through the inclusion of-such variance, abuts, rather than 130

encloses, the putative metropolitan specificity of the English text" (1989: 55). In Western Samoa this occurs not only in language and literary writing, but significantly in the hybrid domain of the Samoan court system.

oOo 131

Chapter Five

Samoan Performance and Cross-cultural Textual~ty: Three Case Studies

"We're the script!"

A selection of dramatic forms in contemporary Samoa also illustrates the diverse ways in which the syncretic mixing of Samoan and Western performance modes take place as a result of .post-colonial contact. The English language and generic structures are appropriated into traditional forms of the Samoan language itself and to its oral tradition in genres such as faleaitu (comedy) andfagogo (storytelling).

The way in which English has been used in these texts indicates a desire to appropriate the language of the coloniser, to fulfill local needs. The texts themselves do not conform strictly to the prescribed genres from either t?-e traditional or Western sources. The choices made in normal daily language use in different situations also confirm this unrestrained, liberated attitude towards language. These examples of performance illustrate the different ways which Samoan actors and playwrights use the English language as a discourse to demonstrate the potential of any language to be manipulated and used for different purposes. The user of a language can be constrained by the prescriptions of a language, or, can tap the great potential of language to produce original combinations which can be understood in the local context. This can happen within a monolingual as well as a diglossic or polydialectical situation. 132

Three Performance Models

The performance models I describe and analyse are:

(i) Modern appropriation and comic improvisation using a traditional oral form - the Faleaitu.

The traditional faleaitu is oral, comical and satirical. It aims at entertaining and revealing social truths largely thr.ough humour and satire. It deals with contemporary issues and reflects current local practices such as the use of the English language in everyday Samoan life. It has also freely adopted the use of modern media instead of being confined to live performances in a village setting. The faleaitu is very elastic in its form and its boundaries. It has no title, script nor set, its actors are always on the verge of performance depending on time and place, for the faleaitu is spontaneous in its oral approach and the actors are masters of improvisation.

(ii) Between the Oral and the Written: Group Authorship in Light at the End, an oral play.

The distinctive features of this text are its group conception and its combination of oral and written modes. It can also be perceived as existing in the interstitial space between the oral and the written. The group production of this play decentres the Western notion of an author and shows the construction of contemporary cultural experience through a process which seems strongly influenced by the oral tradition of story making. Barthes• notion of the' death of the author• in which he states

it is language itself which speaks, not the author, to write is, through a prerequisite impersonality, to reach that point where only language acts, 'performs•, and not 'me' (1977: 143), is applicable to this case-study, since authorship cannot be focussed in a single 133

individual. The 'language in use' creates desired effects in the play as it does in everyday life. The art of oral composing still works together with the written

script which is ultimately displaced after it has played its part.

(iii) The hybrid written script:

Think of a Garden by John Kneubuhl.

Kneubuh1 1s :rnpdern Samoan play is written in the English language but interspersed with Samoan dialogue to emphasise the setting and develop characterisation. The written dramatic form is appropriated from a European genre - a written play complete with set, characters, dialogue and stage directions. Of these three examples of Samoan performance, Kneubuhl' s work conforms closest to the play as an English genre that is fixed in its written form. However, it incorporates a traditional story teller persona who appears occasionally throughout the play to explain and tell parts of the story.

Case Study (i) Appropriation and Comic Improvisation: The Faleaitu. An Oral Play. A traditional Comic form in a Modern Setting.

In an interview with Vilisoni Hereniko, Kneubuhl defines faleaitu as the housing of a spirit which induces an atmosphere of comical, humorous spontaneity and freedom.

Aitu means spirit rather than ghost... So if you have a faZe [house] and you1re doing theatricals - dancing or singing perhaps -and you release that spirit into that house, that house becomes a faZe aitu or a house of that spirit. It is like uncorking a genie. It is wonderful good fun but like all excesses wonderful and dangerous. A £ale aitu is therefore a spirit house that is used for performing comedic sketches. (1991: 99-105)

Aitu in its colloquial meaning can also m~an someone who behaves like an aitu in breaking protocol, making and having fun etc.; which is what performers in 134 faleaitu do. The spirit is paradoxically a human creation - an entity which exists only when there is a gathering of people interacting or in communion with each other. The housed spirit, the faleaitu is a presence which draws people together. Faleaitu are comical improvisations of contemporary life couched in the spirit of entertainment which also inform, teach or deride in a humorous or satirical way. The humour of faleaitu may be comical, didactic or cathartic. Its exposition is part of facing truth. Often within faleaitu laughter, the comment Aue! Oka! Tai moi (Well said! Too true.) is heard from the audience, or from an actor in the play itself. The audience often responds with more laughter because the actor has thereby crossed over and voiced the thoughts of the audience. Faleaitu has no set boundaries between players and audience, between stage acting and real life. It meanders freely, its ultimate purpose is to entertain using truths which can be recognised and understood by the society from which it originates and to which it communicates.

Although a traditional oral form, faleaitu uses not only Samoan, but adopts other languages such as English for its purposes. It is no longer confined to its original village setting but also performed in town on stage, over the radio, on television, and in other countries where the Samoan immigrant population is high. Faleaitu does not have titles, its points of reference are the actors, their village and the occasion in which they performed. Modern professionalism has not diminished the traditional practice whereby members of the audience walk onto the stage at any time to give money to the players. Faleaitu addresses a wide variety of topics, such as immigration, taxation, personal relationships, health issues, superstitions, personalities, local leadership and international events. Although a traditional genre, the flexibility of faleaitu as an art form has allowed it to thrive in a modern context.

J. Kneubuhl refers to a favourite faleaitu by the famous Samoan comedian Petelo .. Two players continually steal imaginary taro (a staple root crop) from a 135

plantation, despite repeated warnings and recriminations from the villagers. After several repetitions of this scene, one of the actors gets carried away and hits one of the thieves much too hard. The action is stopped suddenly and the 'injured' thief/ actor (Petelo) announces;

Look, this is just a play, it is not real, and yet one of you thinks it's real, and now I'm black and blue. I hired you to act. This is imaginary. You're all fired (1993: 99 interview with Vilisoni Hereniko).

Kneubuhl then goes on to say;

What then is more real? The world of the play, or the world that we experience? The reality of the make-believe, the theatrical make-believe of the stage, and the different levels _of reality - that is my kind of theatre.

This provides an apt description of faleaitu, its spontaneity and freedom made possible by the absence of a written script. This momentary stepping out of the play itself and using the immediate reality as part of its 'play' conforms to Linda Hutcheon's conception of "performative inscription" -- spontaneously produced and depending largely on reception of the audience which becomes a co-author of the open (unwritten) script (cited in Adam and Tiffin: 1991: 53).

So, although a small group may gather to decide how to go about performing, they are also aware that changes may occur at the time and place of performance. Spontaneous performances are also common: one or more performers may emerge out of a crowd and perform on the spur of the moment., and as long as there is an audience (of any size) this is possible. For example during the 1993 public demonstration against the Value Added Goods and Services Tax (V AGST), several faleaitu skits were performed whilst the protesters sat in front of the government buildings.

These are living texts in performance, and committed to memory as people talk about them and use some of its phrases dr actions in everyday life. For example in the VAGST faleaitu one phrase which was aptly used was "Le tagata ua 136 maualalo". This refers to a human being about to be born and also means mankind is in a low position. The faleaitu actor (male) therefore feigns late pregnancy on the side of the road and calls out in vain to a passing government vehicle for a lift to hospital. The ambiguous cry is not lost on the audience. The government imposed tax puts people in a low position. Another popular faleaitu coined the phrase malo o pipo (government of the people). Although there is no standard Samoan term pipo this derivation from the English word 'people' was a popular alternative to Samoa or government of Samoa. Such coinages are recognised, used and like many popular forms of language use, fade out in place of others.

Faleaitu Performance Strategies

In faleaitu, the practice of mimicking is always emphasised when there is a meeting of Palagi and Samoan. The Samoan player acts and speaks in a way that is clearly un-Samoan, walking and talking in a way that is recognisably Palagi. He is therefore 'fia Palagi' and the irony is, that the more Anglicised his actions and speech, the more obvious it is that he is good at what he is not. In essence the faleaitu reveals the farce, the fraud, the con-artist, the clown, the mimic man or in current popular terms, the 'wannabe'. In a comical presentation the faleaitu also highlights the issue of identity.

In a way Faleaitu illustrates Bhabha's 'double vision' (1994: 88) or this "gap between mimesis and mimicry" in a performative context whereby the faleaitu actor is always 'split' between being an actor/player and a person in his own right within that situation of play and audience. He is ambivalent, not totally actor nor totally ordinary person there and then. His overt and cove~t verbal asides to the audience, the showing of his non-actor face to the audience from time to time are examples of 'metonym of presence' - that his other self as a person (not actor) is also still partly present. 137

The Performance

The faleaitu I observed and use as a case study won the Teuila Festival Faleaitu Contest irt September 1993. It was performed on stage at the Feiloai rna Uso

Hall in Apia, ~nd its subject was tourism. There are thre~ players. The leading actor plays the Samoan tourist guide and the other two are European tourists. All are dressed in their fm;mal festivallavalava but with the donning of hats and sunglasses (tourist wear) and a walk that suggests high heeled shoes, the other two players are identified readily as Palagi tourists. The transformation is never complete because the laughter from the audience: ridicules the farce of imitation.

The emphasised European gestures and mannerisms, the gait, the verbal and facial expressions parody the pretence on the stage and the pretences of real life. The Samoan counterpart is also exaggerated in a similar stereotypical way. In such faleaitu the seemingly 'below average' Samoan is often parodied. For example the no school before - who can't speak English and the vasti,. the dimwitted one who is not quite with it but in the course of misunderstandings and idiotic mutterings he will land some harsh or very .funny truths about certain kinds of individuals or Samoan and other societies in general. In this respect their function as clowns mirrors the function of clowns in many societies, they make social criticism palatable.

In this faleaitu the Samoan tourist guide tries to teach the Palagi tourist how to say basic Samoan words such as 'Talofa' (hello) as well as the Samoan names for items in the market such as small handicrafts and local fruits and vegetables. The Palagi tourists have difficulty with the Samoan long vowel sounds. The quickly exasperated Samoan tourist guide takes on the recognisable role of an English teacher by breaki:r:tg down the Samoan words into martageable syllables and becomes more like a chagrined speech therapist. 138

Moreover, the Samoan tourist-guide-cum-teacher begins to take on recognisable English intonations and articulations in his own expression of the Samoan words. His voice sounds higher and his articulation of initial Samoan sounds become heavily aspirated. This is a deliberate reversal of the intended

effect in that the Samoan 'teacher1 is appropriating the English accent of the Palagi tourist he is trying to teach. This mimicked Palagi accent is then emphasised even more by the tourist who again, is really a Samoan acting and trying to sound like a Palagi.

Samoan: (mouth opened wide, forefinger lifted in front of face moving it slowly in time with each syllable) Taaaa-lohh- fa; Talofa.

Tourist: Tahhhhh-low- fah; Tahlowfah.

Samoan: (Grinning at the audience) Tahhhh -low- fah; Tahlowfah!

It becomes clear also that traditional roles of teacher and pupil have been reversed. The Samoan is now teaching the Palagi how to speak Samoan, using methods which are recognisably those of an oral English lesson (which most if not all of the Samoan audience in their early school lives will have agonised through). Secondly, in the process, the Samoan has incorporated some of the features of the English language in the way he speaks in Samoan. Although this mimicry incites laughter and derision it also shows that the two languages will modify each other.

Social convention also dictates that the role of the Samoan tourist guide be patient and understanding - he must teu le va or be mindful of the relationship. Therefore, he shows a presentable tolerant, understanding face to the tourist (because this is what the Western Samoa Tourist Bureau encourages), but turns an agonised one to the audience. Hence, the Palagi tourist and Samoan tour guide smile patronisingly at each other, creating a paradoxically blissful picture of utter miscommunication and inadequacy which is both hilarious and thought-provoking. Such instantaneous facial 139

expressions and quick verbal asides are fleetingly interspersed throughout the act. For a fleeting moment the dramatic face is dropped to reveal the real confusion, delight, disgust, hatred which exist outside the play acting. The truth of the matter that this is "just acting11 is caught only by an attentive audience waiting eagerly for that acknowledgment at the same time they are enjoying the acting.

Such momentary stepping out of character, showing the other face or role distancing (Goffman: 1963) is also part of the function of de-mystifying a powerful figure, such as a foreigner or a professional or government administrator, or de-mystifying a concept, such as a complicated tax law or the very idea of being an actor or player. The momentary dropping of the play­

acting conveys the message, 11Yes J1m an actor but the truth is J1m also one of

you" and the audience1s laughter complies -"Yes we know the truth. We are you and you are us."

Faleaitu therefore acts on the premise that the dividing line between acting and reality is not distinct but shifting and porous. Rather than choosing between one or the other, one can alternate, one can have both. The difference between the actor/sand audience does not have to be divisive or create boundaries or polarities. Although a form of comedy, faleaitu also reveals a strategy of resistance used by Samoans to counter domination. Through mimicking (a form of acting) their own difference is covered over or downplayed by this fabricated similarity. Mimicking therefore plays on a

human weakness - a fear of the unknown. It complies with the desire to be the same, by providing external representations (what it sees and what it hears) of the familiar, and creates a superficial ease which denies the potent existence of difference and unfamiliarity. The ambivalence of colonial relations in Samoa is therefore reflected by faleaitu performan~es - whereby the Samoans acted as if they were subjected by colonial forces through an apparent compliance with 140 colonial discourse, appearing and sounding as if they were becoming Europeanised but all the while maintaining their own 'face' or identity.

As part of the oral tradition, the faleaitu framework is permeable, and therefore adaptable to innovation, to incorporating new events, to being performed via new mediums and showing new ways of using language. Faleaitu constantly revises or creates its texts using contemporary mediums and themes and in doing so it lives on resiliently as a traditional form in a modern environment.

Case study (ii) Between the Oral and the Written: Light at the End a play with an oral script.

A play composed and produced by Samoa College Year 11 Drama Group. (Performed at Samoa College- April6-9, Tusitala Hotel- Sept. 241993)

Light at the End began as a writing exercise in the classroom facilitated by a teacher-class co-operative activity during an English period. A script emerged from student experiences and local incidents and this included everyday language use in an urban village rather than a translation of everything into English. This meant that although the students were meant to be learning English writing through this exercise, the realism they demanded from their composition meant that they had to write in both Samoan and English. Then, as the purpose and content of the story became clear, and rehearsals were underway, the students themselves began to abandon the written script and developed the play by role-playing and improvisation. Their lines were no longer those of the written text alone but were blended with oral skills of improvisation. Different student comments explained this:

We had a script but we did not use it because we kept thinking of different or better words and ways of saying what we wanted to 141

say.

We'd forget the script lines but it was easier to make up our own right there than trying to remember what was written.

I was tired of saying the same things over and over when I could say the same thing in different words.

Well this was not one of the ordinary plays written by one person like Shakespeare where we had to learn every word exactly - this was ours -we could change it but we had to co-operate to keep it flowing. Sometimes we surprised and praised ourselves for that!

Sometimes our audience affected some lines like ones with swear words which we didn't use too much when there were lots of older people.

Finally it was too much work to keep rewriting so we just threw away the pens and the script and carried on OK with our mouths!

The script was no longer the text, it was no longer the written authority and focus of the meaning, the text was the language in performance, and members of the audience also took part in determining its meanings. In other words, the text in performance, temporal as it may be, is inscribed on the audience and 'lives its life' there for that time in which its meaning is determined. This situation de-privileges the author and the play's meanings now emerge in association with the audience for whom the text was destined in the first place. The text (the conveyor of meaning) is freed from the author's intentions, no longer pinned down. Barthes' edict that 'The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author' (1977: 148) insists that writing and language are not instrumental but function in their own right, 'it is language which speaks not the author' (143). The situation of writing and reading this play therefore demonstrates in a post-colonial context, the ascendanctj of the text over the book.

Firstly, the group writing activity cancels out the "the voice of the single person the author 'confiding' in us" (143). From the start this is a script of different voices, the authorship never more than 142

the instance writing, just as 11 I 11 is nothing other than the instance saying I: language knows a 'subject' not a 'person' and this subject, empty outside of the very enunciation which defines it, suffices to make language 'hold together', suffices, that is to say, to exhaust it. .. the text is henceforth made and read in such a way that at all its levels the author is absent (Barthes 1977: 145).

Secondly, although the written text or script was abandoned, there remained a 'text' which was alive and well, albeit unwritten it existed, and enabled the play to carry on. Again this concurs with Barthes' opposition to the suggestion that the Author is conceived as the past of his own book: thereby the explanation of the work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it. What we discover in this example is the emergence of a group authorship. Effectively, the procedure of continual revision followed by the cast during the performance was the enunciation of a text which was produced apart from any central authorial focus. There was no author to refer to -'the modern scriptor is

born simultaneously with the text'(145). 11 So where is your script? 11 I asked the cast. They all laughed and looked at each other then one girl opened her arms

and said 11 We're the script! 11

The reappraisal of the reader in the Barthesian sense correlates with Ricoeur's 'Model of the text: meaningful action considered as text' (1971) where he states that 11 Human action, too, is opened to anybody who can read11 (544). Further, in relation to action itself Ricoeur says

In the same way that a text is detached from its author, an action is detached from its agent and develops consequences of its own... our deeds escftpe us and have effects which we did not intend (541).

Therefore whether it is writer, performer or speaker, literature, action or utterance, the meanings of such texts do not reside in one or the other but in the interstices of the text as it comes into dialogue or discourse with reader, audience or listener. 143

Maes-Jelinek (in Adam and Tiffin 1991: 57) quotes Wilson Harris1 reference to 'texts of reality or texts of being1 which should be capable of revising themselves because they are alive and bring to light an identification between art and life. Such an explanation fits well with the exercise of Light at the End where the work is a living entity constantly being revised within its unity as a text. Life is reflected in the art and the art is itself part of life therefore like life - change is also inevitable in the art. As one student said

When we sat down to talk about what we were going to write for a script we knew what we wanted. Something to make the audience laugh, cry, be angry and see how we as students could portray a drama of them and us - of our constantly changing lives.

This focus on 11 them and us - of our lives 11 also made the performance successful because the audience was part of the situation on stage. The 'them and us distance or interstice1 was traversed- the 'I am here but also there/I am here but

1 1 part of that scene explains the notion of textuality: 'texts of reality , 'texts of being1 which are not singular but multi-layered. The players who are also the composers of the play continually revise the lines of the text in response to the audience or other considerations. This activity is parallel to the empathetic observers/ audience who are also capable of revising their own lives, their own texts of being.

The Play: Light at the End

The play is about a family in an urban village in Western Samoa. Social demands prove. deleterious to the unit as time, money and resources are meted out to various communal and extended family commitments. The parents care for three children, an elderly grandmother and a faafafine nephew from the rural village. The eldest son is an unemployed drop-out, the other three attend the prestigious Samoa College. Familiar issues such as family conflicts emerging from monetary concerns - the church donations, the school fees, the groceries and the extended family faalavelave are all dealt with in the play. 144

Well known problems such as alcohol abuse, suicide, gender relations, teenage pregnancy and parent child relations are also touched on together with marital strife and domestic violence. The dialogue of the play was realistic and one student remarked, "It was easy to think of the lines because we had heard it all before in real life." During the play local occurrences were incorporated into the dialogue, for example the Teuila Festival was referred to when the play was performed a second time during this festival. Different characters represented the hybrid nature of language use in Samoa. The effortless mix of English and Samoan came mostly from the young people and to a lesser extent the mother.

Daughter: 0 i ai lau Maths text book i iga? Can I use it first period koe avaku laia during le interval?

Faafafine: You better. How come ua leai sa oe textbook?

Mother: Faakopekope! You don't want to be late koe detention foi laia olea e kele feau. Le pasi i kiai ia oulua!

The father, however, spoke in Samoan, even though he could speak English. The old grandmother spoke no English at all and remarks addressed to her by others in the play were in full Samoan. English usage therefore is like a generational yardstick. The young have the greatest facility with English and the old people who are traditional and conservative speak only in Samoan. The village cousin living with them is Fatu, a faafafine (see Chapter 2) who also attends Samoa College. He demonstrates many of the faafafine speech characteristics which have already been discussed earlier. Although Fatu grudgingly earns his keep doing most of the domestic chores, he does enjoy his urban freedoms -- applying make-up, cross-dressing and speaking a mixture of Samoan and an eagerly acquired American English in a high, nasal-sounding feminine voice. However, the student writers address not so much the subject of effeminate males and/ or transvestism (which is acknowledged and accepted in Samoan society) but that of village relatives who are sometimes ill treated by their town relatives because of their status as country cousins from kua - the 145

back villages. The ambivalence of sexual roles for a faafafine in Samoa is also revealed. He wears the male uniform to school but dresses like a female at home without any great objection from anyone. He is "fed up with doing most of the work (both male and female chores) and this exemplifies the myth of the happy Polynesian extended family. As Fatu declares in a· moment of vexation

Yes. And not only all the work for me but my Aunty, she gives two tala (dollars) for me but five each for her churen (children) - (shakes his forefinger) Faakali (wait)- wait, I tell my mother, she is more older than that pitch.

Such non-standard English constructions are used in particular by the village cousin as his mastery of English pronunciation and syntax is not as well developed as his urban cousins1 who have had more exposure to English. The word'children 1 has a consonant cluster fld/ which is not readily articulated because in the Samoan language consonants are always separated by vowels.

Hence such clusters are convenie~tly omitted. The use of both English and Samoan terms 'Faakali - wait1 is also common in everyday usage sometimes to facilitate communication to a mixed audience some of whom speak only Samoan and some only English. Another reason has to do with timing - with the utterance of the Samoan word first (because this is his first language), it allows time to locate its English translation and then say it immediately after.

The omission of the auxiliary verb will in his statement 'I tell1 is also very common in Samoan English constructions as the main verb is still capable of conveying the message. Double comparatives 'more older1 and the use of the /p/ sound (for bitch) instead of /b/ are common non-standard features of Samoan use of English.2

2 Certain English sounds are consistently modified by speakers who have not quite mastered all the sounds (first language intrusion) or who choose not bother with articulating every English sound in standard form for reasons such as group loyalty; see Giles, Bourhis & Taylor 1977; or subtractive bilingualism see Lambert 1974) The mispronunciation of 'God' for 'Kod' by the village cousin is first language intrusion. There being no plosive /g/ sound in Samoan (it functions only as a nasal /ng!), it is common practice to replace the voiced plosive /g/ with its corresponding voiceless plosive /kJ which is part of the Samoan phonology, · ' 146

In sentence structure, the use of a co-referential subject pronoun immediately after the nominal form, (my aunty she... ; my mother she... ) is often heard. As well, there are frequent confusions or omissions of English past and present tense forms or a lack of concord between verb and subject. The use of

'for1 to start a phrase is also common together with a non-standard use of the definite article (the) as in Fatu1s answer to being asked as to where they were ' going: 11 We is going for to clean the church. Ea? What's the business if you* not

1 3 coming?" [sic] (* omission of auxiliary verb 'are ). The inclusion of ea ? (what about it?) is a common practice amongst bilingual Samoans.

In another scene when the husband storms out after an argument, the frustrated wife mutters to herself E, pe vasti ea lea kamaloa (Oh I think this man is ' crazy) -The word vasti is a colloquial coinage of the day (probably originating from a faleaitu) meaning crazy, foolish or dim-witted. Being a current and popular expression it is clearly enjoyed by the audience who recognise it as a non-standard Samoan term used in the formal, predominantly English speaking domain of the school but nevertheless adding to the realism of the play. Obviously, the young use more English than Samoan. In a dramatic scene where the precious daughter of the family utters her dreaded news to her mother, she speaks in English.

Mother: E! Eke mai? (Here! Are you sick?) Tell me - e aumai gi au ftialaau? (do you want some pills?)

Daughter: No Mum- nothing. No ... No ... Mum... No. Mum 11m sorry.... Pm pregnant sorry Mum Sorry! Sorry! Sorry Mum sorry.

Mother: Ea? 0 lea lau kala? What did you say? Look at me! Auoi! Auoi!

Fatu: Ou mai Kod! Pa 1umuku! (Oh my God! Whore!)

3 O'Rourke (1992: 51) also notes these features in her analysis of Wendt's use oflanguage in his prose. 147

The mother's question is repeated in both languages and as she recoils in shock, faafafine Fatu utters without restraint what everyone would think but not say.

In a violent scene when the neighbouring couple break into a fight, the woman speaks mainly in English-- using it both to distance herself from as well as to taunt her husband. She also moves to a safe physical distance from her husband and standing like a Palagi model with one hand on her hip, smoothing her hair with the other and scanning the ceiling with her eyes, she avoids all contact with him. Distance is created and maintained: physically-- away as far away as possible from him-- and verbally --with the use of English words and intonations. Inwardly, she is frightened but in the presence of her friend and gathering audience outside adjusting the louvred windows for a better view, she feigns confidence and declares;

For goodness sake, have some manners - le faZe o le aiga (this is another family's house)- puh -leeze (emphasised English accent).

The husband loses his temper, strides across the stage holding his fists and eyes her obvious Palagi gestures menacingly. He points at her and bellows;

0 a manners? Aua eke gagu mai. Ua alu le aso - leai se meaai i le faZe ae ga'o lou faikakala solo. (What manners? Don't speak English to me. The whole day, no food in the house and all you do is gossip all over the place.)

The wife's choice of language and words in that language are clearly meant to distance herself from the unpleasant situation, the husband and imminent physical danger. Her use of English and non-Samoan mannerisms riles her husband even more because it is also meant to displace and undermine him. The husband recognises this speech act immediately and counters it by his use of Samoan. This language choice also serves to emphasise his disdain for what he now interprets as fia Palagi, a consciously contrived 'act' on his wife's part by her speech and mannerisms. Her pretence or fia Palagi serves more to mask another truth - that of being terrified of the impending violence which she 148 clearly recognises. Their violent verbal confrontation continues in this manner setting them further and further apart until they finally come together in physical violence.

As well as the mixed use of language there are also other recognisable cross-cultural interactions. Although they live in their European-styled house, speak English, play and interact in certain European ways, they are also involved with village and extended family affairs. When there is a crisis such as the mother's outburst against her pregnant daughter, faa Samoa envelopes the family and a family fono is held. The setting of the stage changes significantly. The lounge furniture is moved to the periphery of the room and the family are seated in a circle on the floor. This stage setting clearly indicates that a Samoan cultural event is about to take place and, predictably, the only language used is Samoan. The elderly family matai arrives to mediate and remedy the problem. The old grandmother admonishes for lack of faith in God lo tatou Matai . The predominant use of the Samoan language in this last scene is also a metonym for the cultural event which takes place --reconciliation. The brothers reassert their feagaiga by assuring their sister that they will care for her and her child. The mother nevertheless announces that she will be sent to relatives in New Zealand, far away from village gossip. The relationship or the 'va• between different members of the family is re-established. Such insertions of local language within a predominantly English text are signifying devices which inform of the hybrid social situation and practices from which the text has been derived.

The Samoan English is used to establish the local cultural setting and to set it apart from a "slavishly Anglo-centric medium" (O•Rourke 1992: 51). Sentence constructions which do not conform to standard English as well as untranslated Samoan words, inscribe difference and signify a certain cultural setting within which this language process takes place. So, English is used, obviously 149 acknowledging a former colonial influence, but also providing "a synecdochic index of cultural difference which affirms the distance of cultures at the very moment in which it proposes to bring them together" ·(Ashcroft 1988: 57). The bringing together is part of post-colonial writing for, as Wilson Harris points out ..

... one.is aware of a hypnotic transference of influence from colonialism to post-colonialism and the fact that the latter is still partly bound up with the former (cited in Maes-Jelinek 1991: 58).

In the meeting of the two languages, those who speak the mixed versions often do so unconsciously but the fact that it. is Samoan English, or English within a Samoan setting, signals a syncretic distinction that is as much cultural as it is linguistic.

The tones, grammatical constructions, lexical items, code-switching and body language that accompany the English words are clearly influenced by the Samoan setting and therefore the langiiage not only functions as a medium of communication but can also signal other meanings, such as the enhancement of group solidarity (amongst the young ~ho are fluent in English) by the adoption and sharing of a 'foreign' language. Alternatively, the same language (English) can also be manipulated to disrupt group solidarity, to highlight educational, economic or social distances.

In response to the play "The audience was clearly in empathy. There was much laughter, holding of mouths, shaking of heads, covering of faces" (Samoa Observer, 9 May, 1993). In his introduction to an anthology of Pacific literature, Albert Wendt (1980: ii) states "Like writers elsewhere our writers are explaining us to ourselves and to one another." The mixed use of language was not an issue. Some students commented in writing;

We had many positive feedbacks [sic] on how we expressed problems in the Samoan aiga. 150

Some said that the play was an important story betrayed [sic] by Samoa College to everyone.

Even these forms of expression are examples of a vernacular Samoan voice coming through in English. The use of plurals (feedbacks), and the occurrence of malapropisms such as the use of 'betrayed' instead of 'portrayed,' may stem from a greater regard for oral and audio rather than a written medium which makes clearer distinctions through spelling.

This performance text demonstrates some of the ways in which English and Samoan are used in everyday life in Western Samoa. They show the creative potential of intersecting languages when the syntactic and grammatical rules of one language are crossed with another. They also show how cross­ cultural texts reveal the ways in which meanings are determined within a context or situation rather than being imposed or established from an outside authority. Language becomes a tool with which a 'world' can be textually constructed. As Wilson Harris insists

~~Language is world .... For what is at stake ... is the flexible placement of associations within a pregnant form, a living language, a pregnant Word. Such pregnant form gives life to the hollow appearance of justice. That is my intuition of fiction and ... its bearing on the scope and capacity of the Word to come into equation with inimitable truth" (cited in Maes-Jelinek 1991: 57-8).

The pregnant word exists and the meanings which can be born of it will be determined by the situation of the word, how it is used regardless of its origin. The mixed usage of Samoan and English words -weave meaning out of the heterogeneous social conditions and practices of modern day Samoa as depicted in this play.

The play is a dynamic group authored text which, although it confirms Barthes' notion of the 'Death of the Author', also reveals the importance of the material conditions of the text's construction, what Edward Said calls its 'worldliness' 151

(Said 1983). Above all, it demonstrates how a western preoccupation with individual creativity can be ignored by a communal authorship, even when most other aspects of the genre are appropriated.

Case Study (iii) The Hybrid Written Script: Think of a. Garden by John Kneubuhl.

This play is a hybrid written script which employs an oral narration maintained by a character who is separated in time and place from the setting of the story which is about himself and his family when he was young. As the plot and action unfold in the development of the play, this narrator steps in from time to time to comment, to explain or tell parts of the story. This kind of flashback narrative technique is a feature of the oral tradition. The play is primarily in English but Samoan is also used because some of the characters themselves are bilingual and some only speak Samoan. The linguistic mixture blended into the play is representative of the ethnographic mix and associated attitudes and perceptions that exist in post-colonial Samoa. The particular issues which are demonstrated in this post-colonial text are

(a) the syncretisation of two languages and two forms of narrative (modern drama and traditional storytelling in a cross-cultural context.

(b) identity and cultural estrangement in a post­ colonial context

In his prefatory note, John Kneubuhl (1991: i) states that this play is partly based on historical fact - that of the divided Samoan Islands, and also that it "flirts with autobiography." Although American and Western Samoa are separate political entities as a result of separate colonisation, they are still one through their cultural links. Kneubuhl acknowledges his afakasi - half caste makeup of European and Samoan. His upbringing exposed him to different Christian denominations such as Roman Catholic and Methodist which were 152

also part and parcel of the colonial enterprise in Samoa and other Pacific islands.

Language Use and Cultural Identity

The setting of the play is in the village of Leone, American Samoa, 1929. The action takes place in and around a large Victorian style house in a yard enclosed with white wrought iron and a tall hedge. The house is white-washed, white wooden railings enclosing a porch furnished with white wicker furniture --everything white. An artificial Christmas tree, artificial flowers and hanging Japanese lanterns complete this picture of colonial Samoa. The obvious appropriation of European type housing and material goods in this island setting intimates that the owners of the property have also appropriated a Europeanised way of life. They are enclosed, as opposed to the open village setting, and they show a preference for imported goods rather than local.

This is an appropriate introduction to the owners of the property, Luisa Kreher and Lilo Griffith. They are sister and brother who are 'half caste' Samoan, having descended from Methodist missionary stock and Samoan nobility, and their Samoan ancestry links them with Tamasese, a prominent leader of the Western Samoan independence movement. They have had a New Zealand colonial education and can speak Samoan but use mostly English with a British New Zealand accent. Living with them is Pito, a full Samoan relative who does not speak English but has looked after Luisa and Lilo as children and now cares for Luisa's young son David. She holds her own as a matriarchal member of the family, not a servant. David, the son of Luisa and Frank Kreher speaks both English and Samoan. His alter-ego is his imaginary friend, a Samoan boy 153 named Veni who is part superstition and part fabrication. Frank Kreher, Luisa's husband is an American, a lawyer and successful businessman who joins the movement for Western Samoan independence. Brother Patrick is an old imbibing Irish Marist brother who is David's tutor and a regular visitor to the Kreher household. There are also other Samoans, distant" relatives and workers employed by the Krebers. Some live within the Kreber compound and others outside in their own villages.

Development of the Play

The play does not develop in a strict linear pattern. As the plot develops, it also moves back and forth in time with the writer taking on the triple role of a young David of the past living in the village with his parents, as his mythical friend Veni (his alter ego), and the present, older David looking back on the past and explaining the course of events as an adult and narrator. This technique of circling back from the present to the past, of including smaller stories and past references which account for the larger story in the here·and now are oral tradition techniques of omniscient narration and authorial intrusion blended into the dramatic genre.

Language Use and Cultural Identity

When the play opens, the stage is set and yet the narrator (David) appears like the traditional story teller to explain the background of the story in English. This opening appearance thereby establishes his ambivalent role, in that he is a younger character in the play but also an older narrator existing outside the action, the product of what we, the audience, are about to see. He withdraws and the play continues with a Samoan dialogue between his old surrogate mother Pito and himself as a child. His mother Luisa appears and speaks to David in English, Samoan to Pito.

DAVID: Manaia au teu Pito. 154

PITO: Oso i lalo ge' i e pa'u

David uses the 't' register of the Samoan language- the polite variety as this would have been insisted on by his mother. He says 'Manaia au teu Pito' as

opposed to 'Magaia au keu Piko.' (/n/ <--> /g/ and /t/ <---> /k/). Pito uses the 'k' variety 'Koe ikiki lava o'u alu aku, makua'i mimilo lou ua' (I:i) which could be used in both formal and informal interactions. The 'k' variety is normally associated with spoken rather than written activity. However this has also become a feature of modern contemporary writing in Samoan. The 'K' variety is not changed to the formal't' variety in much the same way that different varieties of English have been incorporated into literary writing. Enter Luisa and English dominates the dialogue.

LUISA: David have you got your· lessons all ready for Brother Patrick?

DAVID: Yes Mama.

In David's conversation with his mother he alternates between Samoan and English sentences and also merges the two languages in other sentences because they are both bi-lingual.

The way in which people use language confirms multidimensional relations not only between different people but also between language and context. That Luisa speaks English to David and polite Samoan to Pito shows her different 'sides' or itu as well as her consciousness of the social situation in which speaking English to Pito is not appropriate since she would not understand. Luisa's Samoan is respectful and the 't' variety also corresponds well with her perception of herself being a high born Samoan. At the same time this does not intend to distance her from Pito as the Samoan language of respect does at other times. Pito's seniority and special place within the family warrants this choice of respectful language and expression. David also uses Samoan and the 't' register but his lexical choice is characteristically juvenile. Luisa insists on 155

· English which is important for his education and also for his father who is European. Nevertheless as is eventually shown in the play she considers the English language and European identity superior to the Samoan.

Linguistic choice therefore can have wider social meanings. It can signal the social relationships or status of those who are taking part in a particular speech event. This particular speech event is not homogenous. Within any language, sub-varieties exist and their selection is dependent on the context of the prevailing situation in the speech event.

Luisa, as an afakasi, has not come to terms with her mixed European-Samoan ancestry. Her routine in her house mimics a European lifestyle -- afternoon tea with fruit cake in fine porcelain china, together with her manner of dress (brocade dressing gowns, shawls), and her·manner of speaking in a pretentious British New Zealand accent ("Your books Precious. For your Latin lesson... " I: 12). She also values European physical attributes such as a European shaped nose and toes that are "not splayed like a common villager." (I: 12)

Her brother Lilo is also fully aware of this:

You've lived for so long in your own world .. apart...Oh Luisa why have we always been so afraid of the truth? Why have we always lied to ourselves? (III: 21)

However, this is her life, albeit a mimic one, it must be understood that this is her choice, the only one she has lived, the only one she will live. Distance in time, space and psyche cannot be traversed by Luisa. Her own transformation is too far gone.

In a house where the Samoan language and identity is marginalised, David feels the lack of a cultural identity which beckons through the strength and kindness of Pito, the knowing concern of ~is Uncle Lilo and the outside Samoan environment that surrounds them. When he (David) dresses up in traditional 156

Samoan clothing (like his mythical friend/ alter ego Veni,) with his skin dyed brown, he is rejected violently by his mother. She desperately wets the corner of her imported shawl from the teapot and violently scrubs off the brown colour from his skin despite his crying and protest. Despite how hard Luisa tries to make her son European, the truth of his Samoan side, ironically inherited from her, keeps reappearing in different ways.

LUISA Now young man .. .I'm ashamed of you... thoroughly ashamed of you - you ought to be thrashed. Wicked! Wicked child! (III: 2)

Lilo comes to the aid of David. He sees no harm in such actions - a part Samoan child dressing up in Samoan wear and changing the colour of his skin to match his clothing. Dressing up, talking to his imaginary friend, Lilo and Pito accept David's actions as that of a child, growing up and searching for his own identity through different ways. When Luisa loses control and strikes David, Lilo pushes her aside and refers to her as a 'god-damned pretentious- mean­ arrogant -half-caste bitch' (III: 2).

At each dramatic point of the play David the narrator emerges to explain the action. This not only allows a commentary from the one who was affected by it all but also allows an English explanation of those parts of the play which were mostly in Samoan. This translation device offers a measure of understanding to members of the audience who may have difficulty in understanding as a result of the mixed use of language. In addition, through the persona of the young David and his split personality, the story is also able to expand the parallel story of Western Samoan independence in which their kinsman Tamasese becomes a martyr. The two stories are juxtaposed by the narrator and fed by the ongoing reports from Western Samoa brought in via other characters. The plot therefore develops parallel struggles for identity, one which is personal and the other national. 157

As David recalls his childhood in his narration, he hears Pito's plea in Samoan but in his narration he utters it in English because this is a central theme of the

play itself. 11 Promise me, promise me you will always know who you are 11 (III: 2). Even when she herself is not half caste, Pito fully understands and feels the difficulties of hybridity, of being half caste, of not having the security of knowing where one belongs. Her wish is to spare David the agony of a culturally estranged life like his mother's.

The narrated memory of his mother reinforces her European facade.

Tea and her almost too sweet fruit cake, listening to the morning birds concealing her confusion and her heartbreak. ... on the chaise in her bedroom when she was feeling, as she put it, bilious. Fruitcake and nausea in a world of goodbyes (I: 4).

This use of the English language, the description of English 'things,' the fruitcake, the chaise, even feeling 'bilious'- signify her difference in a Samoan post-colonial world which is being displaced by her kinsman in the Western Samoan independence movement.

It is David who suffers through the desire to be neither one nor the other, but to come to terms with his hybrid self. As the adult writer, David ends the play with the dilemma of being mixed, of being hybrid, not only as a result of mixed parentage but also through different experiences, of new meanings which emerge through the interactions of words and deeds. Meanings, as the adult David says are also from silences and darknesses which are not void, but

11 beyond which new mornings dawn for all of us" (IV: 18). fn English, this Samoan notion of the va is expressed, creating a distance, a silence in which new beginnings are created, confirming the ability of any language to communicate messages and meanings even if they are from another culture.

Some of the incidents in the play are part of the direct action, some are reported to the reader/ audience by the adult David, the writer and the speaker 158 conversing with the audience/ reader. He directs them to think of a garden- a garden made up of imported, artificial flowers which in his child's perception was beautiful and secure.

My one view out of the house - that view that shapes one's world for ever was of this garden... It was all magical to me especially when my friend Veni came to play, or when I would sit with my old nurse, Pito, out here, on moonlight nights, and she would tell me the old stories, with the songs of grief in them ... So then, I ask you to think of that garden now as if it existed in your minds as truly and as beautifully as it did for me (I:i).

The garden is imagined, but it is the place where his world is shaped for it tries to balance the world inside and outside the house. In the garden, David is a different person, he speaks freely in Samoan to Pito, other Samoans in school and his family compound, and his supernatural friend Veni. Inside his house he is fed with English, Latin, fruitcake and tea. The two worlds are apart and his attempt to balance them is the source of David's predicament for he is the one character who occupies the interstitial space between the two worlds. The Samoan notion of distance and space as a bridge or relationship emerges as a contrast to that of an empty space which sets two entities apart.

The syncretisation of the traditional storyteller and the modern play form or genre has enabled the playwright to enter into different times and places at the same time in order to tell the story. As well it has provided a translation device for the playwright who wants to be able to explain cultural aspects of the play which may not be readily understood because of the use of the Samoan language.

The play emphasises the importance of context in the construction of meaning. The play is in English, and the dialogue of non-English speaking characters is situated and explained by the narrator. As already demonstrated in the court domain, translations themselves are varied and hybrid in their construction and very much dependent on the speaker (or writer) and the context within which 159 s/he is using language. The linguistic competence of monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual speakers and writers alike is also determined by their ability to use appropriate language in different situations. This has been an important aspect of the Samoan post-colonial experience - the introduction of English was taken as an additional language to be used for different purposes, to be used in appropriate situations as determined by social conventions, expectations and need. The additional language however did not remain separate at all times. Hybrid forms of language usage and other social practices- as shown by these three case studies are some of the results of this interaction.

oOo 160

Chapter Six Popular Culture

Like sands through the hour glass...

One of the most dynamic areas of Samoan life, an area in which the adaptability, resilience, hybridity and creativity of Samoan culture are revealed daily, is in the popular culture disseminated through radio, cinema and video. In most respects, the popular culture, which is overwhelmingly derived from western forms, appears to pose a greater threat to the traditional stability of Samoan society than any other. But in this area, as in all others, the dynamic and changing nature of Samoan society, its ability to absorb new influences and appropriate them to traditional structures and traditional discourse, has been powerfully demonstrated.

The Growth of the Popular Media

Radio was introduced to Samoa in 1948 by the New Zealand administration which presented a battery driven radio to every village, set up in the house of a leading matai. They were "fixed" to receive only the local station (Radio 2AP) and appeared "to fit with great facility into an oral milieu where persons are accustomed to speaking and listening rather than to reading and writing" (Keesing 1956: 168). Educational broadcasting moved the radios to the schools and the interest spread further, some people buying their own short-wave radio sets so they could listen to "any country of the world."

Radio quickly caught on as a social event. People gathered at houses for announcements or other information as well as for entertainment. The volume of village radios, up unti111: 00 p.m. when broadcasting ceases, is generally loud enough for everyone to hear, and a loud radio is also often the companion 161 of a lone farmer working on a plantation. Since all three stations operate in both Samoan and English, the radio has been a powerful indicator of cultural and linguistic hybridization.

Even more interesting has been the development of talk-back radio in which both broadcasters and callers display various ways of using English and Samoan, either together or separately, as well as varying degrees of competency. Radio talkback is now used by all three radio stations and it has confirmed radio listening as a social event. It has popular appeal, attracting a wide local listening audience who are not only interested in the views expressed but also, (being a relatively small community) in discerning who the callers are by listening closely to their views and the way they speak.

Cinema has evolved into an equally integral feature of Samoan life. In 1934 Keesing noted the already increasing influence of cinema in Samoa

The influence of motion pictures upon Samoan youth cannot be overestimated. In Apia alone something like 1,000 natives attend . the theatres weekly; ... Their special passion is for "wild west11 pictures, with horses, guns, and fighting ... According to the manager of one theatre the Samoan audiences are learning English rapidly through the medium of the sub-titles, (they were silents) and gaining an increasing 11comprehension" of what the stories are about. This must be counted as now the greatest educational influence in Samoa other than the schools (1934: 441).

Early actors such as Tom Mix (Toma Miki) and Harold Lloyd (Ara Loiti) became local Wild West heroes and later Oki Mefi (Audie Murphy) and Chon Wein Gohn Wayne). Kek Taklas (Kirk Douglas) and Toni Ketis (Tony Curtis) became favourites in Spartacus of Rome and The Vikings. In the seventies Clint Eastwood westerns were extremely popular and he was simply referred to as le pulupulu --"the cape" under which his various firearms were concealed and which provided much of the action and suspense.

Some films can be the subject of prolonged entertaining discussions relating to 162

its themes, actors, the foreign ways which were shown and the effect on local people. Film stories are passed on by word of mouth and sometimes popular films are incorporated into formal speeches to provide amusement and variety in expression. For example, when thanking a Japanese Aid team for the donation of technical equipment, an administrator began his speech with, "Gone with the Wind are the days when we had very little technology in Samoa." He continued to describe the different types of technological aid provided by Japan and after adequate thanks ended his speech by saying "And thank God it's Friday!"

The emergence of modern kegi. or gangs based on the gangs in Hollywood films, and their flaunting of foreign dress, appearance and behavior, has been an unwelcome development in the village environment, where solidarity is largely based on conformity. In many villages however, dress and behavioural code restrictions do not prevent groups of young people gathering in the evenings before curfew to create their o·wn entertainment through various renditions of popular films. These are usually more like Jaleaitu (short comedy sketches or skits) with one or more competent actors telling the story of a film-- complete with the mimicking of actions, facial and vocal expressions and in particular 'with an amusing C

Television was first received in Western Samoa in 1964 when it was introduced by the American government into American Samoa for educational purposes,! Many Western Samoan children were encouraged by parents to learn English through this medium especially during school holidays. Some local programmes in Samoan were also created such as Olaga Manuia (The fruitful life) which demonstrated farming and cooking techniques, and Talofa Tamaiti (Hello Children), a kindergarten level programme of songs, stories and talking

I A full account of this undertaking is documented in Schramm, Nelson and Betham (1981) Bold Experiment:the Stan; of Educational Television in American Samoa. 163 to children. Samoan cultural entertainment was mainly composed of dancing and singing whilst the bulk of programmes were American family entertainment, Leave it to Beaver, Happy Days, Tire Waltons, Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, Disney Productions such as the Mickey Mouse Club series, various American dramatisations of popular children's stories, animated fables and fairy tales. Disney characters became popular with children who may not have entirely understood the English language used, but this did not prevent understanding of and familiarity with the Disney characters themselves.

A student's winning speech in the 1993 secondary schools speech competition expressed a realistic opinion on the introduction of local television.

Western Samoa is too poor to be watching television ....There are many more important things to spend money on than the television. Samoa needs more libraries for students to use. When we prepare for exams there is only one small library in Apia for hundreds of students to use. We need more schools for Year 11 and Year 12 students to continue their education. Many are not given the chance to repeat because there is no room... Parents cannot afford the very expensive school fees ... .It would be wiser · to make education free than to have TV. The water supply of many villages is poor. Those people need water not TV (Observer 9May1993).

Another common complaint from parents and teachers about the effect of television and video is that children are no longer keen to read for pleasure. They would rather watch animated or dramatised versions of stories than read them. This lack of interest in reading contributes to the increasing rate of illiteracy and even when some are considered literate the degrees of competency2 vary greatly and this is ~lso starkly evident in writing skills both in English and Samoan.

A special report in Island Business Pacific (Nov. 1992: 35-7) entitled

2 See Withers (1992) Padfic Islands LiteraClJ Levels - a criterion referenced study using student samples at Class six level indicated 'an extensive problem of substandard reading not just in English but in the vernacular as well'. 164

"Pacific TV: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth" asks whether television in the Pacific Islands is "a process of cultural homogenisation or opening a window on the world for public information, education and simple entertainment". The answer cannot be simple nor straight-forward because different people in the Pacific watch television for as wide a variety of reasons as people in any other country and not all will watch the same programme nor will all viewers be affected in the same way. Thomas, (1987: 20) indicated that social activities had changed dramatically in Samoa as a result of television.

Western Samoa has rapidly become part of the modern world in its desire for knowledge, not just about scientific, technological or academic progress for developmental purposes, but also about people and their ways and customs in the rest of the world. Samoans are always comparing their social practices with the outside world. Thomas records her surprise when she asked a group of Samoan village women why the American soap opera Days of our Lives was one of their favourite programmes on television. Their reply,

Because it is just like us. That is just like our lives here in Samoa (20).

The setting of middle class American affluence appeared to be irrelevant because they simply followed human story lines which were recognisable. As Thomas relates,

They identified-with what they recognised and they recognised human emotion -love, hate, power relations, jealousy marriage, adultery. The trappings were immaterial. I think this is an area which needs much more research. It has made me reconsider opinions I have previously expressed (20).

Different forms of knowledge continue to reach Samoa through the mass media. But a continuous cry for education to provide a balance between change and continuity is evident. In the aftermath of the Lona incident of September 1993 where members of the Lona Village Fono approved the shooting of an 165

insubordinate matai, a local newspaper editorial pointed out the alarming increase of violence in general.

Bu~ the spate of violence emerging around us was to be expected. Uneducated people feasting on violent movies on TV and Video are bound to imitate what they see. Leaders and politicians beating people up, threatening to kill and swearing at police officers does not help. Instead, their actions add spice to the festering rot eating away at the heart of society...

The government has got to make compulsory education its top priority, its most important concern. This is vital for law and order to be maintained, for the country's moral well-being and intellectual growth to be assured (Samoa Observer 8 Oct. 1993).

Culture and Popular Media

Thomas' (1987) discovery that Samoans identified with middle class suburban characters of Days ofour Lives -- ignoring the trappings of locality and western ' affluence and simply focussing on recognisable human predicaments and emotions such as those portrayed through power relations, adultery, marriage, love, hate and jealousy -- indicates the extent and depth to which cultural hegemony may operate through globally disseminated popular culture. The influence seems to go further when the genre is copied in the production of Samoanised melodramas or 'soapies', but these provide further evidence of the resilience and adaptability of Samoan cultural production. The creative use of language, music and other artistic forms enable a merging of imported and Samoan forms. Woven together, the cross-cultural ingredients create contemporary texts of Samoan life or texts of culture, which continue to impart meanings which open up a view of the Samoan world.

Such texts are evidence of cultural production in the sense th,at Williams (1963: 311) defines culture. He states that culture is ordinary, that it is not only a body of intellectual and imaginative work but also a whole way of life. What is indeed happening here is that culture is being produced in these texts. It is not 166

traditional culture, nor is it some sort of pure, homogenous Samoan culture but a complex and hybrid interweaving of different elements, different discourses.

An example of the way in which material or a practice may be appropriated from Western culture in order to actually confinn cultural identity

can be seen in the weaving of Samoan sle~ping mats. The sleeping mats are woven with pandanus and along their edges there is another special plaited pattern which interweaves the pandanus with colourful woollen yarn. This yarn is imported and serves no purpose other than a form of decoration which is specific to Samoan sleeping mats. Having been asked whether it was possible not to use the yarn since it was expensive and imported, a weaver replied

A ave ese le vulu ua le koe fala Samoa ae ouke leiloa poo se a If you take away the wool - it is no longer a Samoan mat -- I wouldn't know what it is (personal communication Mataututai, June 1993).

So, in the interwoven, cross-cultural texts of the popular media, culture is also being produced within an interweave of local and imported traditions, influences, genres and practices. Popular forms, whether they be song, dance or story, unabashedly show that portions are borrowed and mixed with local varieties. The ethnic stamp is there - acknowledging both the local elements and the appropriation process. As with other case studies the role of the English language is evidenced as having had a marked effect on these productions.

With these two case studies of popular culture, I propose to show that not only does the linguistic culture of Samoa appropriate the imported language but also other forms of language use, for example, popular songs and stories. The idea of textuality as proposed by Ricoeur in this project, 'social or meaningful action be considered as text', appears to be reiterated by Derrida in his statement that 'What one calls real life is in itself a text' (1976: 159). Real life, therefore, encompasses a person's world and world view. Although it can never 167 be fully represented it is by looking at parts of it that we can begin to understand its form. It is this metonymic function of different 'texts' in post­ colonialism that enables us to begin to perceive and to understand other worlds; other dimensions as they are and not as we wish them to be.

Ashcro'ft (1989: 62) states that, 'The inscription of the vernacular modality of local speech is one of the strategies by which a 'marginal' linguistic culture appropriates the imported language to its own conceptions of society and place.' It is clear from historical accounts that although English was highly valued and central in some domains such as education and civil administration it cannot be said that English was central and Samoan was the 'marginal' linguistic culture. In fact, Samoan continued to be alive and well even when English was popular for specific reasons. It may have been marginal in terms of a European perception but was not so in the Samoan because the persistence of faa Samoa even during the colonial period kept such marginalisation in check. Samoans with a strong, intact sense of identity did not marginalise their culture. It remained central to their lives as they tried to cope with, adopt and adapt different systems which were introduced largely by the European missionaries, colonialists and administrators. The following case studies will show how these two genres (popular song and melodrama) are changed and adapted for contemporary interests and needs. Included in this illustration is the changing and interweaving of English and Samoan within these two forms of communication -song and story.

Popular Songs:

The prevalence of the radio and tape recorders has led to the widespread enjoyment and appropriation of popular music. There are many modern Samoan songs, some with original tunes and lyrics, but the majority adopt popular tunes from outside and change the lyrics. Unlike church hymns, in 168

which there has always been a conscious attempt to retain the sa~~ words, popular singers have no intention of doing so, nor is there a concern about

copyright. 3 Many traditional or well-known tunes are used repeatedly with different words to suit different otcasions. For example, songs which are composed to tell the history of building a church, school, meeting house, to commemorate an important event or laud an esteemed person, often have a similar tune and beat but the words are the focus of the composition. Popular English music and songs have received the same treatment as the following examples show.

Chubby Checker1s Cmon baby let 1s do the twist is still popular, especially with fundraising dances where local musicians spontaneously translate the English words into Samoan to achieve the same meanings while also composing their own words and meanings to fit the beat of the song. It is also an opportunity for a local entertainer to show his skill at improvisation and entertain with his own selection of local words and meanings rather than the original artist1s. eg.

sau ia pepe sei fai le tuisi (c 1mon baby let1s do the twist)

sau ia mama ina lalaga sau fala (c'mon mama and weave a mat)

sau ia tama se i toto le maumaga (c'mon boy, let's plant the root crops)

The deviant translations are therefore deliberate and verses often continue to describe everyday Samoan life. They aim to localise and domesticate the imported song, to jest about the unlikelihood of famous overseas people singing about mundane Samoan preocupations let alone Chubby Checker

3Strictly speaking there are no copyright laws in Samoa but recently, Samoan musician and senior lecturer in Expressive Arts at the University of the south Pacific, Ueta Solomona stated that musicians needed legal protection for their work and the lack of copyright laws meant that plagiarism is a reality which harmed both the music and musicians's drive. See Ta/amua 1994:24 169 singing a Samoan song,4 to remind people within the fun of dancing and singing that real life is not only about 'baby doin' the twist' but about weaving mats, working on the plantations, cooking food, coping with faalavelave and other everyday activities.

Rap songs and reggae music are also popular with young people who like to display their knowledge of the modern and popular overseas hits but who are also musically inclined to compose their own rap and reggae compositions in Samoan or a combination of Samoan and English. These are recorded locally and marketed on audio cassettes and aired over the radio. Individuals or music groups often feel challenged to reproduce introduced forms. To avoid total mimicry and copying they use the introduced forms in different ways. These include musical combinations or tunes as illustrated by the Chubby Checker composition, use of the same tune but with a different message altogether using Samoan language and others are direct translations using the same tune.

Other compositions utilise the speaking-rhyming of rap forms to convey a spoken message with music in the background. Many of these are locally situated such as Taukatea's 1992 Samoan rap compositions Overstayer and Au Sikolasipi. These two numbers refer to social issues such as overstayers in New Zealand who stay on illegally for various reasons: to earn money to send back to Samoa, or to be with their families already established there, or simply because New Zealand provides a more attractive life than Samoa. Au Sikolasipi refers to those scholarship students who return home with disdainful attitudes for local chores and practices and generally acting fia Palagi which in turn invites scorn from their local peers. Before universal suffrage, a Samoan Reggae song Sui le Palota (Change the voting system) composed and performed by the

4sinavaiana (1992) records a similar process in Faleaitu where Elvis Presley is domesticated as the boy next door who is also skilled at catching cmbs and charming the ladies with his song- One for the money two for the show. 170

Tama Uli Band expressed the view that the matai titles were being bought and bestowed indiscriminately for the purposes of voting rather than for the original purpose of maintaining and supporting the family and village: The song therefore was blatant in its call for change to universal suffrage. This particular composition was rarely played on air as the sole radio station (2AP) at the time was government owned. Although it was regarded by the broadcasting station as being too radical, nevertheless it was popular amongst some young people who felt that the song voiced their own feelings about not being able to vote.

In June 1995 a rap music video entitled Turtle Turtle was released as part of a South Pacific conservation campaign to save the sea turtle. This production was a joint venture between the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) and a New Zealand based Samoan music group called Islandhood. The sea turtle is part of Pacific mythology but is now an endangered species, because of over harvesting. At the official launching in New Zealand of this rap music video (Auckland, June 10, 1995) it was clear that rap music was not 'traditional' in the South Pacific, as Western Samoa1s Consul

General in New Zealand remarked, 11 Pm sure it is the first time governments have used rap music to reach their public. 11 However SPREP Turtle Campaign officer Sue Miller states 11The Pacific youth listen to Rap. Rap is one of the most popular forms of music in our region. It makes sense for us to make a rap music video because that's what will get the message across. 11 However, the musical piece itself is not purely rap. The modern message of conservation and the plight of the sea turtles is loudly put across in English and rap music. But woven distinctly into the modern form is a child1s voice singing a well known Samoan traditional chant Laumei Faiaga. The chant is a calling one which children in Vaitogi on the island of Tutuila sing out to sea pleading for a mythological shark and turtle to appear. The lyrics have been slightly changed 171 so that the child calls for the life of the sea turtle so it may continue to be seen in generations to come.

A desire to use a wider variety of known forms (other than the traditional) to entertain, to imitate, to mimic, to commu~cate messages brings to mind Achebe (1975) in Morning Yet on Creation Day where he states emphatically on the issue of English, 11 1 have been given the language and I intend to use it. 11 Tunes and lyrics in Samoa are often used without regard to the original meaning and intentions of the original composer or a concern for copyright. Just as the English language in the spoken and written forms has been appropriated by local creativity and adaptation, so also have imported songs of various kinds been changed and recreated by local entertainers. Either the message is translated into Samoan, using the same tune or type of music, or it uses the same tune but with different lyrics. Some recent Samoan hymns have also been composed in this way from popular songs in English.

The following list provides examples of popular English songs which have been translated into Samoan, either literally or with some Samoan additions to the lyrics, or using both the English and Samoan versions.

"Bright Eyes" - Mata Pupula "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille" - Faitalia oe Lusia "Sad Movies" - Ata faanoanoa "Send me the pillow" - Tuu maia se aluga "No charge"- E leai se totogi "Don't mess with my chu chu" - Ua leai se ta chu chu

Originality, copyright or intellectual property concerns in relation to such compositions are questioned by more informed musicians and members of the community (that is in the Western sense of legal rights and ownership and permission) but it appears that many composers and musicians are not aware of, nor are deterred by, such considerations. Their main concern is to produce 172

songs which are appealing to their local audience. Whether a song is derived, appropriated, translated or adapted it is an act which shows that people use what they receive in different ways and they choose more freely in their own local scene how they go about it.

Another example of such appropriation is the American pop group Vanilla Ice's composition Ice Ice Baby. This is a popular number which has been translated by local entertainer Pat Mamaia in a way that conveys ambiguity in meaning. The Vanilla Ice composition alludes to meanings other than the literal meaning of ice. It refers to drug use and is understood readily by audiences in the United States who are familiar with the context in which this song was composed. In Western Samoa however, most people sing along with the catchy tune of Ice Ice Baby not knowing exactly what this group- Vanilla Ice is singing about. Hence in the Samoan version of Ice ice baby this lack of understanding is acknowledged and ridiculed- by translating it literally in a highly improbable context. It is a combination of mimicry and ridicule. The mimicry is achieved by assigning a literal translation and meaning to the English words - ice baby as pepe aisa - a baby made of ice.

The composer performs as a one-man band with no instruments except his voice which he uses to mimic both the vocal line and its musical backing. The performance opens with a narration which is clearly set in a local tropical setting but incorporating the appropriated idea of an 'ice -baby'. It tells a story of an early morning in Samoa when a beach was covered in snow and ice (the impossible). A young boy goes out onto the beach where normally he would make shapes out of sand but in this story he carves a baby out of the ice on the sand- (the improbable). He leaves the ice-baby on the beach and a younger sibling sees it and tells their mother that there is a baby on the beach. The mother expresses the worst suspicion- a baby on the beach often means an aborted or discarded baby. The older boy comes in and ends the speculation by 173

singing the Samoan version of this original Vanilla Ice song: E le o se pepe na fanau mai (It isn1t a baby that was actually born)

Ae ole pepe na ou tago i le fai (It1s a baby that I actually made)

Ua manaia tele lava o le pepe (It was such a beautiful baby)

Faa igoa loa ia ais ais pepe (So then it was named ice ice baby)

Ice Ice baby Ais Ais pepe (Ice Ice Baby Ice Ice Baby)

(Pat Mamaia: 1992 recording:Uiga o Samoa)

Within these few lines the impossible, the highly improbable and a blatant but quick comment on a social issue are combined. Snow and ice on a tropical beach are bizarre, the silent subject of abortion or abandoned babies is touched on but the song moves quickly and hits the main beat and chorus which then takes over without further elaboration. A song whose original, covert or coded meanings may not have been understood in English is translated and the result is a kind of nonsensical piece understood for its absurdity in the local context but as well it points out clearly albeit briefly, a serious concern in a local context.

Such linguistic situations, whereby translations become incongruous (often syntactically correct but semantically deviant or vice versa) are readily identified by most local people who have come through an education system

1 1 1 1 where 'white as snow , 'cold as ice , 'black as coal , 'red as an apple ,'sour grapes1 were common expressions learnt and used in the school domain. That they were literally out of place would be realised later in adulthood, often with amusement. But in school, English was often taken in with much of its paraphernalia, and in children1s drawings, coconut and apple trees often stood 174

beside Samoan houses with snow falling all around. Singing English nursery rhymes, for example, about a black sheep, a tree bearing a silver nutmeg and a golden pear, and Mary's garden with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row, were all quite contrary to the local experience but contributed much to the child's imagination. Edward Kamau Brathwaite refers to a similar experience in the West Indies where he explains

people were forced to learn things which had no relevance to themselves. Paradoxically, in the Caribbean (as in many other cultural disaster areas) the people educated in this system came to know more, even today, about English kings and queens than they do about our own national heroes, our own slave rebels, the people who helped to build and to destroy our society ... And in terms of what we write, our perceptual models, we are more conscious of the falling of snow, for instance - the models are all there for the falling of the snow - than the force of the hurricanes which take place every year.... That is why there were (are?) Caribbean children who, instead of writing in their Creole essays 'the snow was falling on the playing fields of Shropshire' (which is what our children literally were writing until a few years ago, below drawings they made of white snowfields and the corn­ haired people who inhabited such a landscape), wrote 'the snow was falling on the canefields' trying to have both cultures at the same time (1984: 34-5).

But the saddest incident of all is an account of the 1954 U.S. nuclear testing on Bikini Island. It describes how the wind blew the fallout onto the inhabited island of Rongelap and 'fine powder fell from the sky. Children had seen photos of snow and at first the young ones played in it' (Dibblin 1988: 26). This provides a tragic but very real extension of the kinds of cultural dominance which the prevalence of snow indicates.

Contemporary songs in Samoa continue to weave old and new in a range of novel ways. The appropriation of songs and music is a mixed process of copying and creating, using a selection of, if not all that is available to create 175 new cross-cultural songs. On Children's White Sundays (Oct. 81995) the Faleasiu Congregational Christian Church put on an adaptation of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Although this was a village church setting where Samoan is the predominant language, English was used for the entire production. As a well known story the use of English was not considered to be an impediment and the young cast appeared to enjoy singing, dancing and acting in the language. Apart from the children's performance the rest of the regular church service was conducted in Samoan. The inclusion of English was only temporary in the sense that it was a special day and it was a children's production. It is most unlikely that adults would perform in English- they may go as far as a church hymn but no further - Samoan remains predominant.

The practice overlaps with other genres and media such as that of advertising. An example is the advertising of imported products such as Budweiser beer. The American ditty "This Bud's for you" together with ear­ catching music and further English proclamations about the 'goodness' ~f Budweiser is also interspersed with a Samoan commentary which translates and adds to the promotion of the imported beer. Another example is the Lavalava Circus, an entertainment troupe which first began in 1992 under the name of Magic Circus. At that time theirs was an example of Samoans trying to imitate a European circus. The ringmaster- Tupai (an honorary matai title) Bruno, a European, was dressed in traditional European ringmaster's attire (and obviously suffering under the tropical heat) and speaking in English except for greetings and occasionally saying "Patipati mail"- Give us a clap. Other performers were also in European circus costumes such as knee and ankle length tights for the acrobats and trapeze artists. Traditionally there have been

5 This day is probably more important to Samoan Children than Christmas. Four to six weeks prior to this second Sunday of October every year intensive practicing of different plays with religious themes, scripture verse speaking or religious songs takes place. These are performed during White Sunday church service. As well, the children receive new white clothes for the church performance and another set to wear for a Sunday feast at home or at the Pastor's house where they are served specially by adults. The following Monday is a national holiday. 176 no circuses in Samoa although the idea of travelling entertainers called le koneseti - the concert, is widely known. The Lavalava Circus has enjoyed much popularity travelling out to both rural and urban areas in the Pacific Islands. The change in name from Magic Circus to Lava Lava Circus is evident in the whole approach which has now become predominantly Polynesian in both stage setting and flavour. The ringmaster as well as the performers are now attired in a variety of Polynesian costumes and perform a wide range of Polynesian items as well as European circus acts. The running commentary has changed to a mixture of Samoan and English. At the end of the show the entertainers are acknowledged by name and village. As earlier mentioned Samoans are very conscious of their identity so here also the individuals concerned act accordingly not only for thems~lves but for others. The show cannot be seen as purely Samoan but it has come to be identified as the Samoan circus. The word circus is now a popular word with a local meaning amongst local Samoan children speaking in either English or Samoan the word remains the same. 177

Stories:

A similar process to the use and appropriation of English songs and tunes is the production of "Soap Opera" melodrama aptly and openly entitled 0 Aso o lo Tatou Olaga (Days of our Lives). Local writer and broadcaster Pat Mamaia says that he simply looks around and tells stories that people are already familiar with because they are stories about our community.

E iai foi nai a tatou Days_ ma o lea foi e taumafai atu e fai ni nai tala faa solo e entertain ai foi nai a tatou tagata 0/Ve have our own Days and the effort is put into trying to produce our own local series which will entertain our own people) (Pat Mamaia, pers comm. 29.9.93).

Unlike many earlier stories which used only Samoan, Mamaia's stories record the· mixed language dialogue as used in contemporary situations. Therefore, in scenarios where both English and Samoan are spoken, the actual mixed language is used instead of a translation. For example, one of Mamaia's stories of his Samoan Days of our Lives series is about applying for a visa to go to New Zealand. In the story the New Zealand representative speaks authoritatively in English whilst the Samoan applicant flounders with his limited English. He also answers back in Samoan with a most inappropriate answer because he does not understand English but tries to extract meanings from focussing on English words that sound similar to Samoan ones.

In the following interview between Some, the Samoan visa applicant and the NZ immigration officer, Some listens to the English sentences and catches a word which sounds Samoan, derives his meaning of the sentence from that similarity and replies accordingly. A close phonetic analysis of the conversation confirms the that Some selects a certain group of sounds which approximate Samoan words and uses those to respond to in Samoan.

Officer: Good morning Some: E moni ea? (focuses on morning/moni (truth): Why is it true?) 178

Officer: Your name? Some: E leai se matou laumei (your name /laumei (turtle): We have no turtle.)

Officer: Thank y.ou Some: Oute le ai u. (thank you I ai u (mean):rm not a mean person.)

This targets a local audience which is bilingual in English and Samoan or Samoan speaking with some knowledge of English. Samoans recognise and often laugh at their own inabilities especially in relation to the English language as in mispronunciations, misunderstanding and syntactical errors. Yet the agility required in this kind of linguistic situation indicates that such "disability" is in fact a different kind of skill. Another example, similar in its demonstration of a strong dependency and exploitation of audio j oral skills, is a Samoan anecdote about the Samoan and Frenchman learning English. The teacher asks for a sentence using the words green, pink and yellow. The Frenchman's sentence was that he wore his green hat, his pink shirt and yellow suit. The Samoan1s sentence was 11 The phone went green green. I pink it up and

I say yellow, yellow. 11

Shortcomings in other European practices such as not knowing how to use a knife and fork, wearing socks and shoes that are either too big or too tight, or not knowing how to operate a piece of machinery are often the source of much joking and self-derision. This laughing at one's self is similar to that which takes place in faleaitu. Such stories are often urban based so that the mixture of English and Samoan is appropriate because this mix of English and Samoan languages is much more widely used in the town. The appropriation of songs, the use of a story form which seems contrived may be acknowledged but does not become an issue. Introduced songs are imitated and translated. The - use of a well known American soap opera Days of Our Lives as a collective title for these short stories by Pat Mamaia makes no pretence at acknowledging one 179 of its sources of inspiration. The appropriation of the form and and title of an imported melodrama is evident and its popularity springs from recognition, as Mamaia c_omments 11 Such things [the various dramatic episodes of the

American soap opera] do not only happen in overseas places - they al~o happen here in Samoa- this is true, we also have 'the good, the bad and the ugly'.6

These hybrid songs and stories use different strategies of language variance which signify a transforming post-colonial identity. They speak of urban evils, domestic troubles, juvenile delinquency, social conflicts, of Samoan migrants to New Zealand returning with their English speaking chp.dren, of American Samoans flush with American dollars, of rural villagers getting lost or losing their sacks of taro on the inter-island ferry and being taken advantage of in town. Both Samoan and European music or songs with appropriate tunes or meanings are played at suitable times - for example the song, Please release me is a popular selection for a downtrodden family member who wants to escape village or family pressures and Bach's Air on the G String always accomp;1nies the announcement of death in the stories as it does in live broadcasts. As well as being broadcast, the stories are also sometimes printed in weekly newspapers. These stories and songs speak of all manner of things which make up the days of people's lives in Samoa.

This is the very reason why such modern texts are also regarded as part of the post-colonial production of culture because culture is ordinary and is not restricted to the old and traditional or any other elite or exclusive categories. Samoans appropriate popular European forms and create their own distinctive ones, united in time and place in Samoa and using a modern medium such as the radio or television. Such'cultural productions' are recognisably Samoan and they are part of that re-asserting process that allows culture and identity in all

6"The Good the Bad and the Ugly" is a Clint Eastwood western which was very popular when it was screened at the local theatre. 180 its multifariousness - to be expressed. In the next chapter I look at a selection of modern Samoan poetry and prose which demonstrate that similar processes of post-colonial cultural production are also occurring in literary genres.

oOo 181

Chapter Seven Literary Culture

"Our literature puts us at centre stage ... " Albert Wendt (1995)

This chapter will demonstrate how different Samoan writers have appropriated English for literary writing and creative expression. Ha:ving acquired the language through a post-colonial education, Samoan writers have realised the political and cultural possibilities attendant upon using the English language for their writing. Although Albert Wendt is at the forefront of this literary movement, the discussion will focus on lesser-known Samoan writers because they demonstrate the grass roots of the literary and creative movement in Samoa. The work of most of these writers has not been widely available . overseas for reading, studying or critical purposes largely because most of the texts have been published and distributed locally. Sia Figiel's novel Where We Once Belonged is, at present, the most internationally acclaimed, having won the South East Asia and Pacific division of the 1997 Commonwealth awards for first published novel.

One of the most important arguments in this discussion is that Samoan literature in English is performing a cultural function. It is conveying cultural messages and contributing to the maintenance of a Samoan cultural identity. Ashcroft poses the question:

Does a disability in the use of one's mother tongue, through displacement by an alien one, lead to a loss of one's native heritage and an incompletely formed racial personality? (1978: 4) 182

A close analysis of texts written by Samoan writers in English suggests that in fact, the opposite is the case. Indeed in Samoa, as in many post-colonial societies

The form of literary art, carrying its own resonances, its own horizon of cultural contexts, becomes potentially one of the most valuable devices of the author. (6)

This explanation clarifies further the notion of the language event, that it is usage which conveys meaning and significance not the cultural baggage of the language. English need not automatically carry "English-ness":

A person's language is his own response to environment, language itself is a response to environment. Therefore language that is transplanted, as English has been transplanted to Africa, the West Indies and the South Pacific (including Australia) must respond to that new environment or its inadequacy as a creative tool will make it redundant (9).

Furthermore, language itself is a creative process without closure. Learning a language is actually the beginning of a more extensive creative process in which one is at liberty to use it in different and innovative ways. For example, when the English language is used in a non-English environment, the influence of the language of that place will affect the English variant that emerges. As Ashcroft argues:

The texture, the sound rhythm and syntax of the original language determine the 'shape' and mode of the English variant (1988: 64).

Brydon states

... we must recognise that the new Englishes do not form one English, that they do not derive simply from one source, and that they are unlikely to form a unified whole for which a single theory could suffice (1989: 13).

Brathwaite (1984) remarks that it is not English, it is not language, but people who make revolutions. South Pacific peoples' response to English, as Wendt explains, was active and liberating: 183

We have indigenised and enriched the language of the colonisers and used it to declare our independence and uniqueness, to analyse colonialism itself and its effects upon us, to free ourselves of the mythologies created about us in colonial literature (1995: 3).

As a result of the colonizing process, the production of culture is no longer the exclusive domain of the traditional performance arts and the indigenous languages. Written compositions, songs, story telling, poetry, drama and other cultural forms which were formerly part of the oral tradition using only Samoan are now also in English and therefore part of cultural production. Wendt argues that

Colonialism has changed us radically but I don't support the outmoded and racist theories, such as the fatal impact theory, which underpin most colonial literature about us. According to these theories and views, we, the indigenous, have been hapless victims and losers in the process of cultural contact and interaction; our cultures have been 'diluted' and 'corrupted'; we have even 'lost' them. All cultures are becoming, changing in order to survive, absorbing foreign influences, continuing, growing. But that doesn't mean they become any less Samoan or any less Tongan. We and our cultures have survived and adapted when we were expected to die, vanish, under the influence of supposedly stronger superior cultures and their technologies. Our story of the Pacific is that of marvellous endurance, survival and dynamic adaptation, despite enormous suffering under colonialism in some of our countries. We have survived through our own efforts and ingenuity. We have indigenised much that was colonial or foreign to suit ourselves, creating new blends and forms. We have even indigenised Western art forms, including the novel (3).

The constantly changing environment therefore prompted people to change in order to survive. The appropriation and abrogation of English was a significant form of this adaptation which continues even today. The resulting production of cultural texts in English does not only affect local people but also allowed other people unable to speak Samoan, in particular Samoans themselves (for example the children of migrants) to acce~s Samoan culture through a non- 184

Samoan language. Sharrad also considers the use of English in indigenous writing a~ a mitigating factor in cross-cultural understanding and acceptance:

One thing that can perhaps be said for studying Pacific writing in English is that while it may seem to produce a spuriously homogenous package for outside consumption, it serves as a strategic ploy to achieve international recognition so that all the heterogeneous modes of Pacific expression can then be maintained as cultural forms in their own right (1993: 5).

In Samoa, however, international recognition does not always equate with local recognition. A local elder remarked to Sia Figiel"Your work does not represent at all the great respect we have in our culture. Why don't you write about the good things?" (Figiel1996: 124).

Others have seen writing in English as a way of "writing back" in English to those who had constructed various stereotypes of Samoans. The process of resistance in the appropriation of genre itself is a key feature of Samoan writing. Writing poetry, short stories novels and plays often became a literary act of resistance against the colonising forces, and writers such as Albert Wendt helped to" destroy[ed] some of the stereotypes and fallacies, myths about Samoa, Polynesia and the South Seas" (1983: 41). Having come through formal education where English standards and practices tended to alienate local culture, many wrote about these stereotypes. In addition, the field of children's literature also developed as the need for culturally sensitive reading materials in English at the primary level became apparent. Samoan writers therefore also wrote to displace the centrality of revered traditional English texts with those which were more responsive to local needs.

Samoan writing in English struggles against the notion that Samoan writing can only be in Samoan. Moreover it is, in itsel~, a participation in a creative process which is not only personally enjoyable and satisfying but also aims to be 185 socially relevant at alllev~ls. One of the most significant consequences of the develop~ent of Samoan writing is that, as in many other colonized societies, the distinction between an elite literature and 'popular culture', a distinction which had become important to the development of "High Culture" in Europe, did not emerge in Samoan society. Literary writing is an accessible and relatively "popular" form available to all those who speak English. The "cultural baggage" of a distinction between High and Low culture did not necessarily accompany the appropriation of the English language.

English was used by Samoan writers because "it was there." Despite the power conditions under which it was introduced, its availability as another language of expression led to its usage and appropriation. This attitude towards English as a given and usable language is expressed by African writer Chinua Achebe

"I have been given the language and I intend to use it" (1975: 62). As a new ontological event, English usage was therefore determined by the context of the local situation rather than a prescribed standard from outside which accompanied its introduction (see Ch. 3, p.97).Contrary views such as those expressed by Ngugi Wa Thiong' o (1981) state that to use English is a continuation of colonial domination and without the use of indigenous languages the cultures of those people become as obsolete as their languages. In the Samoan context there was no doubt that to know how to use English added to one's repertoire of language and social skills. It was also a necessity in the broader society where English rather than Samoan was a major language of communication. The appropriation of English by Samoans was therefore not designed to undermine the Samoan language and culture. On the contrary, mastering the English language was a way of subjugating it for local purposes. This included representations of Samoan culture in English literary works. The type of English which emerged did not always reflect the Received Standard 186 English of the colonisers but one which responded to and reflected the Samoan physical and social environment. It accommodated aspects of Samoa that writers wanted to express as well as all their other concerns and reasons for writing in English.

Writing in English enabled rather than disabled. This literature became a discourse of resistance in which Samoans used English, not to reaffirm the power of imperialism, as Ngugi claims, but to disrupt it using its most powerful tool. From colonial domains such as religion, politics and education, literary writing drew much of its anti-colonial inspiration. It showed the effects of colonialism and how it had affected different aspects of Samoan society and ironically, at the same time, using the language of the coloniser it asserted its own centrality and cultural resilience against imperial domination. As Brydon says of post colonial literatures:

From our perspective, we are central. We are where we must begin and we are not marginal to ourselves, however much others may marginalise us economically or politically (1989: 5).

The Interrogation of Colonial Culture .

It is ironic that a colonial education, described by Ruperake Petaia as consciously subverting the local culture to produce 'mimic men' for the colonial administration, also produced writers who interrogated that process. Petaia' s poems Kidnapped and Father and Son demonstrate this irony -- both poems criticise the dominant system with the tools provided by the system. Kidnapped is best known as the title of one of Robert Louis Stevenson's novels and it is appropriated here to demonstrate another kind of "kidnapping". Petaia identifies the Western education system's complicity with colonial discourse but also suggests the ambivalence consequences of the student being subjected 187 to a dominant cultural system but acquiring useful knowledge (not to mention politically useful strategies) through that system.

Kidnapped

I was six when Mama was careless She sent me to school alone five days a week.

Onedayiwas kidnapped by a band of Western philosophers armed with glossy-pictured textbooks and registered reputations "Holder of B.A. and M.A. degrees"

I was held in a classroom guarded by Churchill and Garibaidi pinned up on one wall and Hitler and Mao dictating from the other Guevara pointed a revolution at my brains from his 'Guerilla Warfare'

Each three month term they sent threats to my Mama and Papa

Mama and Papa loved their son and paid ransom fees each time Mama and Papa grew poorer and poorer and my kidnappers grew richer and richer I grew whiter and whiter

On my release fifteen years after I was handed 188 (among loud applause from my fellow victims) a piece of paper to decorate my walls certifying my release. (1980: 8)

The student is sent to school because this is accepted practice. School fees are paid each term by hard-earned money which is scarce, yet sacrificed for a much-coveted European education. Education, however, is a revolutionary discourse. The student's guards are famous political figures who dominate both his physical and mental space. When "Guevara pointed a revolution at my brains" this took place silently in the location of the mind rather than in dramatic and bloody events of history which .these figures represented. Over the fifteen years of being "kidnapped" he grew "whiter," more Europeanised, through the isolation of the school room from his own culture. The last stanza continues the irony showing that his certification is hardly a liberation but rather a confirmation of a successful kidnap of the mind brought about by colonial capture and containment through the education system.

This irony however is two-fold or ambivalent in a post-colonial context. Although the colonial subject has been a victim and has been kidnapped, his subjection has also allowed him to access different kinds of knowledge. Because of this access (a gap in the system) the subjection is not totally disempowering. Knowledge from studies of revolutionary figures such as Hitler, Churchill, Mao, Garibaldi and Guevara now empower him as a result of his kidnapping. With this knowledge he can turn back on his kidnappers and/ or liberate himself from colonial subjection. The fact is, colonial education like colonial writing has an ambivalence which in Homi Bhabha's terms "is menacing to colonial authority" (1994: 86). 189 In Father and Son the same theme of ambivalent oppositionality persists as

Petaia qu~stions the motives and results of a" successful" education. The poem highlights the alienation of parents and children as a result of the time spent away from home but also the ideas the children have rec'eived from the colonial education. Paradoxically, the education system was always accepted and held in high esteem by Samoan parents even though they knew that local culture and values were not represented in this domain. Education may also have been regarded as a means to an end and a means of survival which became a double­ edged sword, producing cultural alienation and estrangement between parents and their children.

Father and Son

He comes home now his mind filled with the wisdom of the Papalagi Your son has done well at school and you are proud, and showed him off to your friends for their congratulations for you had wanted it all this way!

The 'mimic man' comes home- he is Samoan but not Samoan in his ways, he is the son but no longer the son that the father knew. But:

suddenly he speaks and you don't want to hear him he dresses and you don't want to see him He tries to explain himself but you say he's just a trying-to-be-smart-little cheek who's had too much education

The poem therefore not only "writes back" to the coloniser, but also writes to the colonised and openly addresses the issue of agency-- "for you had wanted 190 it all this way"-- and in this sense the destructive valency of these ambivalent circumstances and their effects fall on both coloniser and colonised.

In another poem, What Are We? On the Mead/Freeman Debate (1995: 284) Noumea Simi interrogates the European discourse of anthropology which has created images and stereotypes of Samoans. Simi's reply to the Margaret Mead 1and Derek Freeman2 anthropological debate on the nature of Samoans (whether they are a promiscuous or violent people) is in the form of a deliberate mixture of colloquial Samoan English which aims to demean and parody an academic discourse and to assert a local voice over an international and Eurocentric one. In this poem Simi writes:

Do we know what we are Mebbe mebbe not Some palagi wommin say we the chilren of free luv shud be examples to prudish societies But some palagi man calls hisself a Free man says NO! we the chilren of violence cause we play war on criket pitches Dis Freeman even say we are liars but only to Mead and not to him and dat is why his word is god's for he alone know what we are .. So com on bruddah and me sister your fudah and muddah may ave bin guinea fowls for naive academics and slit minded brainwashers to make a name and make proof dat Samoan andropology is a miff Leave us also palagi man

1 1928 Coming ofAge in Samoa 21983 Margaret Mead and Samoa The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth 191 we will bare to world our dents and flats our blues and blacks when it comes to us.

The poem refers to the kind of academic power which determines the representation of others by virtue of isolated studies, and the vanity of arguing over possession of the "correct perspective," which in itself is reminiscent of former colonial strategies. The writing back therefore is an appropriation of literary power, a discourse which counters the marginality imposed by . . European academics on indigenous people's views of themselves. In other words, writing in English ha·s enabled the post colonial voice to take its place in the discourse which determines post-colonial (Samoan) identity in fields other than local and traditional. The fact that the writing is so obviously colloquial emphasises the process of abrogation by which the centrality of the language is rejected. Therefore, the process of

seizing of the means of communication and the liberation of post­ colonial writing by the appropriation of the written word become crucial features of the process of self-assertion and of the ability to reconstruct the world as an unfolding historical process (Ashcroft et.al. 1989: 82).

oOo 192

Beyond Janet and John - Samoan children's stories written in English

For many years the teaching of English reading began with European reading books which featured the life of a European nuclear family -- a father and mother with two children name Janet and John with a dog named Rover. Writing Samoan stories for children was a response to the irrelevance and subsequent difficulty of these early readers for local children. The new stories still employed Standard English because the writing was for educational purposes, but the stories could still evoke a different, more local presence, both in language use and content, which eased the burden of learning how to read in a second language and avoided the problems ~f Western enculturation. The use of Janet and John type readers exacerbated the false assumption that writing in English was Western, while the "proper" medium for Samoan was oral. This ethnocentric assumption had already been undermined by the adoption of many European Fairytales and Fables into Samoan storytelling.

Samoan children's literature in English therefore sought to do a number of things. First, it sought to change the perception that literary culture and English were synonymous and that the local culture was unsuitable for English literature. Secondly, it attempted to use the English language itself to undermine and subvert the dominance of a European discourse in this field. And thirdly it sought to use the English language to articulate a sense of culture and place. This is as much a concern to indigenous peoples themselves as it is for new settlers-- that the language(s) available, whether a first or subsequent language, can be made to adequately represent that place in which it is used. It was necessary for the "imagination to come home" Gudith Wright 1966 cited in Ashcroft et all989: 142). Hence the superiority or hierarchical relationship of coloniser/colonised, which is reflected by the adherence to the linguistic codes 193 of the former, is ultimately disrupted by a language usage which places the local as c~ntral and metropolitan as distanced or marginal.

The publicati~n of Samoan stories for children in Englis4 was facilitated by the New Zealand Education Department which saw the need for more culturally accessible English reading materials for its multi-ethnic emigrant population. Because of New Zealand's close ties with Samoa as a former colonial power, it was foreseen that these publications could also be used in Samoan schools. As well, workshops funded by agencies such as UNESCO ;and various high commissions produced some books.

Not only was everyday life portrayed but the many aspects of a hybrid and changing Samoan culture were also represented. Tofa Grandma describes a Samoan funeral scene in contemporary Samoa where European and modern influences alike have been incorporated into a traditional occasion:

Grandma was in her coffin, dressed in white lace. She looked peaceful even though the sickness had worn away her face. Soon people filed in, in small groups, with their offerings of lace materials and fine mats. They

trod softly, with heads bowed, and Sat down in front of OUr old uncle 1 who would speak for our family elders. Tears flowed, words of comfort were exchanged fine mats were spread out and displayed, money and food were given, people came and went. It seemed strange to me that death had caused all this vitality (1983).

The language is aimed at a particular reading age and although the occasion is a complex one from an adult's perspective, the narration is confined to a child's point of view. Travels ·with my Pig (1986) shows how colloquial usage and the mixing of English and Samoan is also incorporated into the stories to authenticate the setting and create a sense of familiarity for the young reader. A bus ride in Samoa is narrated by a young boy who brings a pig from the village into town for his cousin's wedding. 194 The bus rolled up and I stuck out my arm. There was a clanging and a big puff of black smoke. The supakako jumped out. "Hey boy whatcha got in the sack?" The sack moved and the pig's snout jutted out of the corner. "Oi big faalavelave eh?" "Yeah. My mother's sister's daughter is getting married on Saturday." "Ok son grab the other end of your sack."

"Better sit on the backseat otherwise your friend might go trotting off with someone else," said the supakako.

The driver shifted into first gear. The bus rattled, the pig grunted and away we went. I moved my foot back under the seat just to make sure my pig was there, then I folded my arms and waited for the supakako to turn on the tape recorder.

I felt good about catching this bus. It had nice music and they played it very loudly. The windscreen was framed with silver tinsel and on the dashboard was a little hula girl which danced about when the bus thumped into potholes.

Althoughfaalavelave and supakako are glossed at the end, their meanings are clearly indicated within their context of usage. The latter is a derivative of super cargo. This is the standard local term for the bus driver's assistant. The absence of kinship terms such as uncle and aunt in Samoan highlights the constantly repeated detail of the kinship links (my mother's sister's daughter ... ) and facilitates oral memory. The same process is replicated in English to similarly enable the memorising of kinship links (in English). The use of a colonial language to articulate Samoan cultural values and practices counters notions of linguistic exclusivity and ethnocentrism.

The story Travels with my Pig was taken further by a local secondary school and dramatised with great ease and hilarity as part of the Literary Component for the 1996 South Pacific Arts Festival. The performances (in English) of various other Samoan and South Pacific literary figures in poetry, drama, story telling 195 and reading during the South Pacific Arts Festival reconfirms the acceptance of English as part of literary culture in Samoa and the South. Pacific. This raises questions'about ways of acquiring cultural knowledge, construction and maintenance ~nd how culture is transported from one place, group or individual to another. The availability of Samoan and South Pacific cultural texts in English presents evidence that culture can be produced in different ways.

Migrant Writing

Migrant writing demonstrates the ubiquity of the phenomenon of linguistic hybridity because often the children of migrants will not have acquired the language of their par.ents but nevertheless will still have been brought up within a distinctive cultural milieu created and maintained in the home environment. Often the dominant language of their adopted country takes precedence, but although they may not speak the language of their parents they can still understand it, and are also still capable of acting or behaving competently in a manner that concurs with cultural expectations, without necessarily being competent in the language.

Litia Alaelua 's story "Ghosting" (1995) is a good demonstration of the ways in which migrant writing can expose the cultural specificity and bias of claims about the hegemony of language. Alaelua, is the New Zealand-born daughter of Samoan migrant parents. Her short story is a flash-back cameo of her life as a child and the Samoan cultural environment, created in a New Zealand setting, which formed her Samoan personality. "Ghosting" therefore offers emotionally vivid glimpses of her cultural upbringing which, in her adulthood, are 196 significantly powerful although- "the ghost of the ten year old girl is lost to me" (262).

The use of English and the content of Alaelua' s story again pose the question as to whether culture is tied to its place of birth and to its language, or is it free to take root in any other place and use any other language for its maintenance? The post-colonial use of English has demonstrated that language belongs to those who choose to have it and use it within the contexts of their own environments where they create their meanings. Alaelua therefore re-opens the Samoan glorybox of culture transported to the adopted country and demonstrates the fallacy of the claim that a particular language has an essential and exclusive capacity to convey cultural truth. Her style of narration juxtaposes different aspects of the setting in New Zealand with images and nuances that are recognisably Samoan. Outside their house in New Zealand-

Red roses. Rampant at the bottom of the front stairs and through the borders on either side of the path. Profuse in summer and defiant even to the first frosts of winter. On long hot evenings, Mum cut them in bloody swathes for church while Dad cleaned and swept the paths. They sang Samoan hymns in two parts while darkness fell .. .I hoped the neighbours did not hear (259).

Inside the house, children were raised, fed on milk and Weetbix, green bananas and fish cooked by their father and taught to behave in a certain way ... "accompanied by my mother's words--warnings, and hidden messages of love and belonging" (260).

At some signal each evening, family lotu would begin after the closing off of curtains and doors, and the deferential sound of feet on mats as bodies arranged themselves appropriately to Grandpa's seating place and to each other.

... To Grandpa's way of thinking, everything that was important was within walking distance, so on Sunday we all walked to church. The Valiant or what Mum called "your father's prideful joy' remained inside 197 the garage, in all its glinting, blue-green entirety. Mum and Dad walked behind with my aunts, and Grandpa walked in front with us .

... Walking to church the grownups were all gods and goddesses, and we, their offspring. I understood their presence of mind. They were all larger than anything around us, because in this land there was nothing that could contain them (260-1).

As a group and as individuals, their cultural solidarity and personal identity had become internalised, paradoxically complete and intact because of its openness to adaptation. This cultural identity was a 'presence of mind' which transcended time, place and language and therefore 'nothing could contain them.' Such a view of culture therefore challenges its fixity to a particular place, its image measured against an original, its meanings determined by an immutable system of values. Samoan culture in New Zealand or any other country changes, just as varieties of language also change with the setting or context of usage, but this does not weaken it nor make it less Samoan. People themselves choose what to do with language and culture.

Alaelua' s story, unlike many contemporary Samoan stories, conforms closely to standard English with the exception of about two or three Samoan words and sentences which unmistakably indicate a Samoan speaker. Yet, it conveys a strong distinctive Samoan cultural presence which is as overpowering as the perfumed silence of her mother's New Zealand summer roses. "In Samoa," she told me one day, "these do not grow." She was final on this point. Surprised that New Zealand could offer her something she didn't already have" (259). 198

Beyond the written novel: Performance Prose.

Where We Once Belonged (1996a) and The Girl in the Moon Circle (1996b). by Sia Figiel

A reading of Figiel' s novels shows many of the post-colonial literary devices at work. Not only does she present an ethnographic depiction and sociolinguistic representation of Samoan society but also her work shows the process of appropriation and abrogation of an English genre. Oral practices may continue alongside and inter-weave with forms of post-colonial written culture as we may see in an analysis of Figiel's writing. The texts reflect a conscious mixture of English and Samoan, their tones, nuances and rhythms strongly reflecting a bilingual, cross-cultural language use operating in Samoa. They are primarily written in English so that monolingual English speakers are able to understand them. However, the linguistic strategies of appropriation such as syntactic fusion, neologisms, untranslated lexical items such as songs and chants create the "metonymic gap" wherein the reader/listener is coerced into an active engagement with the cultural background from which these terms eiT\erge. The absence of a formal translation such as a glossary indicates the writer's insistence that language be defined within textual usage not from without. Although Figiel writes predominantly in English her choice does not conform to an established English standard acquired through formal education.

Like every Samoan or Pacific Islander, I grew up on the Bible (parables) as well as fagogo/mythsjlegends. I've always been intrigued however by legends, adding it to poetry (solo) and faleaitu (theatre). The imagery and music of the fagogo and the solo continues to shape and form the way I write in English. Because the work is deliberately written for performance, I say every sentence out loud before I write it on the 199

page.. .I want the reader to be able to experience the music of the oral tradition in the way I write in English (1996a: 122).

The method of writing/ story telling which Figiel employs is very similar to that employed by the students who wrote and performed "Light at the End." It is clear that the influence of the oral tradition is still strong in the creation and presentation of these works. Moreover, they are affected by the audience in their oral presentation (as in a reading) or performance (as in a play). The processes of writing, reading and speaking become synchronised in their production. Figiel insists

The text is written while it is spoken - it becomes improvised even. During the actual writing process, I cannot escape being the writer/ editor/ audience at the same time. I try not to concentrate foo much on the editing because that somehow implies censorship (for me). I'm more excited about the audience and the improvisational aspect of a performance reading. As I was reading at the University of the South Pacific in Suva a few months ago I realised that the receptiveness of the audience leads to improvisation of the text. For example, when I read a line in Samoan and the audience responded through laughter, then I improvised the next line in Samoan. However when I did not get a response to a line in Samoan that I thought would evoke some reaction, I translated the next line to English (the one that was originally written in Samoan) and the audience was more receptive to it. That•s the flexibility of work written for performance and particularly in front of an audience

.. .it is a reciprocal relationship with the audience. I rely very much on the audience when I'm reading. In fact, the reading does become improvised, a classical feature of faleaitu. At the same time I realise that performance of the text by the writer alone in solitude is just as important. Like I said before, I read the work out while I am writing (1996b: 123).

As her texts show, post colonial writing does not only refuse to comply with the standard English usage but also, it does not restrict itself to the parameters set by particular genres of an imported literary tradition. In this way post-colonial writing dismantles imperialist centralism. The language is used in a distinctive 200 way which confirms the cross-cultural, non-English provenance of the texts. Usage authenticates the setting and shows how the meanings of words are inextricably tied to the place where they are used.

Throughout Figiel's work, language use signifies difference through usage, and also, alternative interpretations of European concepts, beliefs, ideas and practices. A ten year old's homework is reproduced to show the confusion of learning Eng~ish as a second language. The difficulties in mastering new sound and spelling systems are also reflected in the writing.

Enlish Homwork -- My Sefl.

My name is Samoana Pili. I tan yaer old. I living at Malaefou. I has a dog. My dog name is Uisiki. I has a big too .. I have thre anilmas. Dog. Big. And cat. My cat name is Kili. She have tow littl cat. My big name is Piki laikiki. My big mather name is Aumakua. My mather name is Lafitaga. Everyone calling her Lafi. My father name is Malaefoua Pili. Everyone callig him Pili. I have one siste. I have tow brathe. He Faakaoko and Isaia. Oko going to Malaefou Hai Schol. Ivoga and Isaia and me going to Malaefou Primayr Schol. My taeche name is Mis Gren. She coming from Amerika. She has pisikoa. I taking flowr and mago for she.

TiANT (2).

The text reflects a careful reproduction of the oral in a written form along with spelling errors. All the Samoan words are correctly spelt indicating a mastery and centrality of Samoana's own language to herself. Whiskey the dog is spelt in Samoan- Uisiki, also Hai for high school, piki for piggy, Amerika for America, pisikoa for peace corps and mago for mango. The problematic English words are understandably, consonant clusters which do not occur in the Samoan language. Enlish - English, Sejl- Self, anilmas - animals. The absence of I thl and I dl sounds in S_amoan are reflected in their replacement by the I tl sound in TI ANT- The End, just as pig is misspelt and mispronounced as big. The spelling of mother as mather is sound based as the'o' letter is pronounced 201 as an 'a1 sound. Apostrophe's 1 to indicate possession are all absent. These are also most.likely to be absent when spoken and consequently reflected in the written form. Pronouns and verbs are also confused although the message is still communicated.

As well as school, new ideas and perceptions of life come with electricity - "the power." The light goes on and a television is brought in for further 'enlightenment' on the outside Western world.

And all the kids went there that evening to see Mata turn the switch on and went Wow! (21)

Tagi1s TV was something new. Something everyone wanted. Something everyone envied. Pictures of happy palagis driving around in their cars. Posing us impossible questions. Each time they got out. And jumped up and down. And smiled. Showing all their sparkling teeth. Have you driven a Ford lately? They would ask (22).

When the TV dies the pictures don1t disappear. They stay on. They continue to stay on in our minds. Tattooed in our thoughts. And we think about them all the time. Always we think of Laura Ingalls. Chunky cat food. Driving a Ford. Whether Laura makes it out of the burning barn. Whether her dog lives or dies .... Would Pa forgive her for skipping school... Would Marlene and Roman ever get back together? ... The pictures don1t disappear. They are kept in our heads. In our ears. On our tongues. ... Until night falls. And dogs no longer bark. And baby lizards. Shit. On our memory (46).

The stories and names of television characters and popular TV commercials become part of everyday life. Samoans are not strangers to the avid TV fans who spend all their waking hours thinking and talking about these things. The lizard (pili) represents traditional knowledge and appears from time to time as a native or mythological creature.

Pili the Lizard. The only son of Tagaloaalagi. The creator. Pili himself was a god. A demi-god. One who was known among Winds and Waves. Clouds and Fire. Shark and Bird. A:nd Boar (71). 202 Filling up their collective communal memory with such trivial information minimises traditional knowledge and" ... baby lizards. Shit. On our memory." In an oral society, where memory is of vital importance, the children are preoccupied with remembering American television series, soap operas and

commercials instead of their genealogies, land ~arks and traditional stories. However, the reality of the intersection of modern and traditional exists, and at times when the power is off there is evidence of traditional remembering also taking place;

The grave is where we sit and sit. Singing songs. Counting relatives. Talking about movies ... Before night falls. Before the conch shell for the curfew is blown (49).

Other oral practices are also woven into the writing: for example; the playground games and stories which have been appropriated from European tradition are part of Samoan children's lives. Samoana's youth is expressed within the context of ' ... as I skip to my loo my darling to the faifeau's house' (60). Her public show of impudence towards her older sister causes a loss of face that was unforgivable for a long time.

Because I was the youngest. And she was older. Second to Oko. Which gave her certain privileges. Respect. I had to respect that space between us. I had to respect the va. And Grandma Faga yelled at me. Confirming this fact. And the punishment that went along with it. Dancing with the belt.... This in addition to all the swearwords of Samoa which she threw around your neck. And she pulled it. Until you suffocated from shame (75).

The structure and tone of the language is similar to "relative counting," a litany of well known facts that are constantly reiterated and impressed upon the young so that they know where they stand in relation to their family and others. The swearwords also take on a potency that is as effective as physical violence. The 'swearwords of Samoa' make up a noose which Grandma Faga 203 . pulled and the agony that seems closer to death was not physical but social. Physical pain no matter how severe was not as painful as social ostracisation....

And I pull at Ivoga1s long hair anyway. And run away to the church with hair between my fingers. To the church I would go. Where I pull my dunlop waist made panties and skip some more to my loo my darling. Repeating M-I-S-5-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. With all the misters in between (ibid).

Playing alone, at the church, covered modestly with make-do clothing of imported materials and chanting her English skipping rhymes which are normally sung as a group, Samoana is nevertheless overwhelmed by a cultural factor which causes her guilt. This is clearly expressed in both English and Samoan.

That1s when I knew I had broken the va. The sacred space. The bond that tied us as friends. And as sisters. That made me able to follow her· everywhere.

The next time we met I was the enemy. Never even looked at me (ibid.).

The loneliness and social rejection is emphasised by the lone chanting on the periphery as she is ostracised by her sister1s circle. All'the misters in between1 allude to the 'in between1 which she herself had disrupted .

... Mumbling M-I-S-S-I-5-S-I-P-P-I again with all the misters in between. Something we did when we skipped rope. Or walked home from school. Or when your sister avoided you. And said she wasn1t your friend anymore (76).

In another incident Moana in one of her defiant moods has determined herself as a 'bad one1 and she identifies with Christian villains, European fairy tale ones as well as traditional mythological ones.

An angel for Satan ... agelu mo Sakagi girl. And proud of it. Yeah! I'm going to be red. Bad. Red red girl. Not like Little Red Riding Hood. BO­ RING! With the pony tails. And picnic basket. And pretty shoes BO- 204

RING! And everything.... I1m the sister at that fairy-tale that when she speaks frogs and lizards jump out of her mouth (42).

Not jewels and diamonds like the good sister. l 1m the bad one in every fairy-tale. In every legend old woman Agiagi tells I insist on being the giantess who devours her sisters and brothers.

Pm Kapuikea. Cannibal woman with the extra eyes on the back of her neck. ... Yes Pm bad. Red. With the red feathery wings. With the black pointed ears.

This is what the faifeau1s wife means. This is what she means after she sees me dropping the Bible stack each time l 1m asked to put them away (ibid). 0

This also shows how the two languages can work together in the text to convey meaning because the sentence fThis is what the faifeau1s wife means1 thereby gives a general explanation of the previous Samoan utterances by the faifeau 1s wife which can be discerned from this part of the text. So whilst the pastor's wife is carrying on about being bad, evil, cheeky, diabolical, disobedient etc. etc. Samoana counters her silently in English.

In school, Miss Cunningham, the Peace Corps teacherf gives three essay topics.

11 11 11 11 11 11 My Village , My Pet , and 0n my way to school today I saw a ... • No one in

11 11 11 11 the class chose the last topic because of the word 1 • In their experience 1 meant being alone and that rarely happened. As for 11 My Pet11 the Samoan meaning of 11 My 11 and 11 pet11 also come into conflict with Miss Cunningham1s European perceptions.

My Pet.

My family has a pet. His name is Piki. Piki is born last week. Piki is white and is black too. He likes eating pegu. My sisters and me loves him. We loves him because he is good. He is a good Piki and he likes to play with us. He is a good piki and we going eat him when he grows up. 205

"Who does Piggy belong to ?11 asked Miss Cunningham, as she handed me back my essay.

He is belongs to me, and to my sisters, and to my brothers, and to my 'aiga. He is our piki," I replied.

"Oh" said Miss Cunningham ... 111 thought you were going to write about your pet, your piggy? Do you have anything else that doesn1t belong to your sisters too? Something very special that doesn1t belong to your brothers? Like your toothbrush here at school with your name written on it? You know, no one else is allowed to brush their teeth with your toothbrush, because it has your name written on it" (1996a: 131).

In writing the essay the ten year old consciously writes the truth as she sees it

1 11 11 11 and unconsciously revokes Miss Cunninghams definitions of 1 and "my • The opening line swiftly slashes the Eurocentric notion of individual, personalised ownership which is later re-emphasised by Miss ~unningham in her reference to having one1s name written on something also constitutes ownership. 'My

1 1 family has a pet , in Samoana s way of seeing, is a perfectly acceptable paraphrase of 'My Pet1 because of the communal values which override· individual ownership. What belongs to the person also belongs to the family and vice versa. Moreover the cultural definition of pet extends to those animals which shall be loved and also eventually eaten! The ambivalence which occurs here is not seen as problematic at all because it is not even seen by Samoana as ambivalent. Samoana's perception is validated because the truth conditions of her sentence are met. She is part of the family and what she owns also belongs to the family. One is 11 111 an individual with the correlating 'my1 as in 'My name is Samoana Pili. I tan yaer old etc. 11 These particulars are initial surface presentations of the deeper realities of social definitions of the self which are taught from birth and override Western religion, education and other foreign influences which. also exist. This is made explicit in the writing of the text but in 206 practice they are the underlying foundation to all thought and action. A similarly explicit statement of a communal identity occurs in "Girl Lessons"

'I' does not exist. I am not. My self belongs not to me because 'I' does not exist. 'I' is always 'we', is part of the 'aiga, ... a part of the Church, a part of the nu'u, a part of Samoa (1996a: 135).

A physicai public fight between two women provides a powerful example of the "girl lessons" when the identity of the two antagonists and disparaging

remarks about their behaviour are not made ~n reference to them personally, but to their villages (136).

Figiel' s language use becomes the expression of not just the author but of a society which is defiantly self-defining within a modern context of technological innovations and Eurocentric notions of being. Further examples of language variation in the texts show how Samoan appropriation signals a difference without any loss of understanding on a monolingual English speaker's part. An engine powered boat is called a fire boat, a direct translation from the Samoan words vaa which is boat and aft which means fire as well as engine. "A fireboat is better than a paopao. A fireboat is faster than a paopao" (1996: 155). A paopao therefore must mean traditional Samoan boat. The tiers on the massive wedding cakes that the girls dream about (when they marry Chuck Norris or Sylvester Stallone or Bruce Lee) are referred to as 'floors', as in a house because in Samoan, the word for the floors of a house and the tiers on a cake are the same- togafale. 'A pink cake, too. With twenty- no, twenty five floors ... ' (23). Tupu's name is re-spelt in English 11 Twopoo11 when it was said by the Australian girl Alison to indicate a distinctive English accent which prevails 207 upon the pronunciation of Samoan words as well. When a diabetic man has only one ~eg it is because 'the other was too sweet of sugar and had to be cut off the doctor said... ' (32). The Samoan word for diabetes is ma'i Suka - sugar sickness and these words are simply transcribed into the' English narration instead of using the English term, 'diabetes'.

A representation of both women and men in Samoan society is also presented by Figiel in her work. For example the upbringing of girls in the Samoan village is very much a matter of knowledge acquired through ~ifferent messages sent via different media, not just the spoken word.

Women tell us (in the silent unspoken) Never chew gum or while you're eating and drinking in front of people. Never look for uku at night or on Sundays during the day. Never feed pigs in the evening. Never carry babies outside the house in evenings. Never comb your hair outside in the night or in the evenings. Never ask God for money.... Never laugh that laugh that invites· boys and men. Never swim alone in the Vaiola. Never let anyone get away with insulting your family. Never forget to say thank you for everything (especially to God). and pray always whenever something bad happens to you or to the village or to the district or to the whole of Samoa- amen (1996b: 113). '

Such a litany seems very amenable to a feminist reading or discussion of the text. The translation of these Samoan 'edicts' into English retains the sense of whom they are meant for, through its word selection and subject matter. They are unwritten rules of behaviour which in various ways are instilled into the young girls by the women. The text as a whole demonstrates how these are adhered to or the degree to which they are not. It also demystifies Samoa and

Polynesia as romantic islands of happy, c~ntented Christian people living by their traditional systems in their extended families. The condition of girls and 208 women in Samoa are largely determined by their roles in different domains. These different domains make up the larger macrocosm of the village, district and country so that the "'I' am 'We'. 'I' does not exist" (1995a: 138). Although this communal'we' is validated for its strength and binding capacity; there are some who are not able to cope with the consequences of not keeping to the rules. "Ina who hung herself on a breadfruit tree. Because Laveai beat her. Because she was supposed to like the pastor's son" (1995b: 6). But suicide is not perceived to be individual statement or an act without its repercussions. "They bring eternal shame to everyone. To their mothers especially. Who gave birth and birth to them. Who end up living the rest of their lives in grief. Always. Who mourn-mourn-mourn. Always" (ibid).

Within the family and village the "We" is central and is m~de up of many "I". Ties to family and village entities are held to be more important at times than ties to individuals such as in-marrying wives. When Filiga's second wife is made to leave she is not allowed by her husband and in-laws to take their two daughters. When she leaves with all their worldly possessions; "The girls were still there, laughing with their cousins as if nothing ever happened" (98). The appearance of Pisa, the third wife gives a further description of the marginality of an in-marrying wife who is greeted by the village children as 'you stranger ... you strange, strange woman with the strange baby ... ' (99). When she is asked into the house by a family member; the reference is for her to bring the baby into the house. When she is asked a second time she is referred to as 'the woman'. 'Tell the woman to bring my grandchild into the house.'(lOO) Then 'the woman' is directed to go to

the back and help the women with the fire ... the fire ... the fire .. .fire. Fire. That's where she would have to spend the rest of her life, in the fire, next to the fire. ' 209

Mu ou maka i le afi1

Burn your eyes in the fire. 1

For that is what happened to any woman who eloped and lived with the man1s a,iga. This is what happened to every woman who had to replace a wife or (in this case) wives (101).

The repetition of 'fire1 is symbolic of the in-marrying wife1s place because the fire is in the back of the house or out in a separate kitchen house. Coming in as an outsider and without the sanction of a Christian marriage her position is marginal, insecure and subservient. Without producing children she has no tangible link with the family and village. Without support from her own family her own position in her husband1s family is also minimised. Her role is to cook and serve and learn to please everyone;:

Learn to what? To salt the coconut milk fifty different ways in order to please every single person in the fale? To sugar the koko alaisa fifty different ways to please every single person in the fale? To do this to do that fifty different ways (105).

This is contrasted with her daughter, who is a daughter of the family and village and is therefore secure in her place. She has to learn the girl lessons but these relate to her as a daughter who is to be a model of excellence, and achieving this is her mother1s way of elevating her own position and getting back at others of the family and village who ill-treat her as an outsider. The various successes achieved by her daughter at schoot Sunday school and anywhere else are vicariously hers to laud by denying humbly that her daughter was so very clever. Children1s good or bad performance or behaviour is often attributed to parents; one was not solely blamed or lauded. In a situation where no words are spoken the message is conveyed.

When I came in second place in Aoga Aso Sa, ... she looked at me and spoke with her eyes. In her eye-language only I understood. Why are you doing this to me? Speak! Why do you have to embarrass me like 210

this? Is this how I get payed (sic) for all the eight months I carried you. And my stomach had to be cut open to get you out. And you came out while I bled to death there. Bled to death there. Answer me! Why didn1t you come first in your class? Why? (1996a: 230-231).

Malaefou parents were defined by the actions of their children and children in turn were defined by their parents1 wrath. Or lack thereof ( 1996b: 219).

The children are disciplined physically and verbally to conform to social expectations so as not to be ostracised. Physical violence is severe and yet it is the verbal violence that is most dreaded and sinks deeper. This is often conveyed with the text1s description of the potency of words which hurt even more than actions. Constructions such as 'the poison in the fins of the words they stuck into each other1 (1996a: 224), and the physical violence which is displayed more readily by men is equated by women through language. 11Don1t say that about your father she yelled again. At Ivoga this time. Whose tongue resonated in female language at what Oko was already saying with his fists 11 (1996b: 61).

Because you see, sometimes words hurt so much more than when someone beat you and cut your hair and beat you and scarred your face. Those things heal. The hair will grow back. The scar will merge with your skin to disguise it. But words. Words are alive! The have lives of their own. Lives lived tattooed in people1s heads. Tattooed in people1s hearts. Which is worse. ·

Good words of course make you proud and you never forget them. And sometimes when you1re alone. You can think those memories. And you feel happy suddenly. Your face lights up. Butterflies flutter in your stomach. And so on (ibid: 118).

The images used here are localised, referring to a 'tattoo1 which connotes the traditional tattooing sound of a continuous tapping, almost like a Morse code (of a stick beating against another tattooing implement which cuts the pattern into the skin). The words and their meanings are thereby communicated into 211 the head to be understood, communicated into the heart to be felt and then like a tattoo to be kept as long as the person is alive. Good words are the same and they communj.cate happiness which is linked to an image of 'butterflies flutter[ing] in your stomach'. A conventional English interpretation of this phrase 'butterflies in one's stomach' is one of anxiety and dread, but in this appropriation and contextual reading it means a lightness of heart and spirit.

The image of men in Samoa is presented through their different roles and situations. The drunken Pili says in all seriousness to hi~ daughter as he gives her five tala to buy a case and sharpener for her pencils.

To sharpen them good. So you can write with them. So that one day you'll get a scholarship and go to university in New Zealand or Australia or Fiji and stay with Uncles Luamanu and Poasa. Whoever.

And become a lawyer. A doctor. A teacher.... And remember this once. Don't ever marry a drunken bastard like your Papa Moana. No matter how much charisma he has. Now matter what! (1996b: 63-4).

On the one hand he is shown to be the successful department store chief of personnel, therefore the breadwinner of the family but as well, more often than not he is a useless drunkard who causes wrath within his family when he squanders his wages on pay day. However this image is not sustained throughout in a stereotyped way. In the midst of one of the worst scenes Samoana his daughter counter-reacts.

Food for our drunken father. Sitting out there in the paepae. Humming that Elvis song he loved so much. Singing Love me Tender. Singing it in between hums in his very broken voice. In his very broken English. And suddenly my hate was lost.

And I heard laughter creeping from the top of my moa. Centre. Sacred centre where laughter lived. And I couldn't control it. No. And I felt it escape my mouth. From the moa out to the sky. Where it hung freely above Pili's beer bottles. And I wanted so much to hug and hug my papa. 212 And clean the piss off his clothes. And scream to the top of my lungs I Love You! But we just didn't do that sort of thing. We just didn't.

So I shook my head. And his eyes met mine once. And I saw everything I ever wanted to say flash in his eyes. Like some black and white cowboy movie. Then he slapped me on the shoulder. And said go to sleep Moana. Go to sleep.

The reaction to the dominating patriarchal figure here is unexpected. The use of different images and references creates a sense of complexity which is characteristic of human relationships. The English song, sung in broken English by the drunken father triggers a reaction of laughter and love on his young daughter's part despite the glaring reality of the situation. The description of moa, the centre the sacred centre where the l~ughter emerged is also a translation of Samoa (Sa- sacred, moa- centre). Here, the voice of the adult narrator's explanation of what happened blends with the child's experience. Together they show how and why such an adverse situation was not all that it seemed, that situations could be interpreted in different ways. For the young Samoana, and the meanings conveyed and derived from that incident for her were not explicit, predictable nor conveyed only through words.

The image of patriarchal power is not consistent nor is the one of women, as being powerless (in particular, in-marrying wives). Lafi for one takes a different stand from the anxious waiting when she is faced with preparations for Children's White Sunday;

It is the one week where Lafi completely confiscates Pili's pay. By actually going to his work place. Insisting she signs the payroll. I am not going to let that bastard ruin my children's Sunday. The one thought that drives her to do it. I know (126).

Overseas educated women returning to the village are also not guaranteed success and happiness. Siniva is portrayed as individualistic therefore 213 unconventional in a village setting. Stepping off the plane with her Jimmy Hendrix t-shirt and all the associated modern and European signs; "She looked like a hippie. She looked like a real bum in the eyes of everyone... " (1996a: 185). She goes against current village practices and beliefs by telling everyone that pastors and nuns killed Tagaloaalagi, the traditional god. 'Jesus Christ is not Samoan do you understand? Cathedrals and churches are graves, cemeteries ... " (186). Her language is blasphemous and the whole village was embarrassed by her. However, she is also diagnosed as having ma'i aiku- ghost sickness and different traditional healers are summoned to exorcise the angry ghost. 'Let her live in Darkness'. They felt sorry for her. They were angry with her. Their sorrow and anger hung like a black cloud over Siniva, following her everywhere (ibid). The use of 'they' as well as collective nouns such as 'the women', 'the men', 'the aiga', 'the whole village' in contrast to the single pronoun'she' 'her' and the name 'Siniva' emphasises the conflict and contrast between community and individual. Her oppression is not so much as a 'woman in a patriarchal society but as an individual in a communal society. Her individualism is misconstrued as defiance, foolishness and a lack of community spirit. Her suicide therefore is a reflection of the "I" being unable to survive without the support of the "We."

Figiel's stories are feminist in that they do give a view of the condition of girls and women in Samoa. Traditional practices and modern influences provide a hybrid environment where ambivalent attitudes towards issues such as religion, sexuality, and relationships are part of reality. Although the focus is on young girls and women, their existence as part of a larger social entity is never misplaced. Although they are part of various groups they can also maintain their own individuality, often covertly. Siniva's blatant display of difference is her undoing as people are not capable of dealing with her acquired ways as yet. 214 Despite the girls' entertaining preoccupation with television and movie stars, this is for them mere entertainment or escapism, the reality lies there with them in the village, in their homes with their complex family relationships. The real issues, the real scars are. suicide, incest and violence, the silences which ostracise when the va is broken. Amidst the modern innovations of TV and tombstones, ice cream and supakeli the girls as shown by Figiel are part of and representative of a society which is exposed and tested for its ability to survive.

The texts show that linguistic activities are constitutive of and reflect social life. Figiel's use of language in her writing very much reflects her own and the widespread Samoan/English bilingualism prevalent in Samoa. Although the text is primarily in English; at times her use of Samoan will seem excessive to

the point at which non-Samoan speaking readers will find it difficult to fully comprehend particular sections of her writing. This has also been the case in other genres such as the drama productions already discussed. In the Samoan framework it is evident that people do retain a basic Samoan identity whilst acknowledging and appropriating other, imported elements such as the English language which, paradoxical as it may seem, can also contribute to the maintenance of this very identity.

oOo

The production of Samoan literary texts in English does not only demonstrate the appropriation of the language of imperial power to 'write back' and

interrogate its discursive strategies. It is also evident that English is used by Samoans not only to create or recreate an independent local identity but also to look at Samoan society itself and question whether it has replicated the processes of imperial imposition and domination. The English language performs a cultural function in a Samoan context because it is no longer subject 215 to the impositions and control of the colonial source. It is used by Samoans for their own creative and literary purposes because it has been appropriated. The argument has extended to a consideration of culture and whether culture can therefore be maintained without its original language. Samoan migrant writers who are not from Samoa demonstrate how cultural identity can be both established and maintained through different uses of language which are adapted in response to the cultural environment. The language belongs to the user.

oOo 216

Conclusion

11 11 •• • o le maea foi e sautuatolu e le vave motusia. Ecclesiastes IV: xii

This thesis has argued that Samoan society has successfully appropriated the English language, various modes of communication, and other colonial cultural influences into its pattern of social intercourse, without any loss of cultural integrity. Contrary to many opinions about the effects of colonial domination and subjugation, imperialism in its various forms has not resulted in a diminution of Samoan identity, language and culture. The dynamism and resilience of Samoan social structures, their flexible yet solid formation, has allowed a particularly energetic appropriation of the English language and other social practices which have become part of the Samoan cultural reality.

The texts of culture in this study are cross-cultural in nature and are the result of a post-colonial meeting of two cultures, that of Samoan and European. These cross-cultural texts, not only validate the perception of texts as being more than writing, but also confirm that texts are the objects of meaning producing strategies. Texts can be made up of different components, of different strands which make up a heterogeneous whole rather than a homogenous one.

The study has shown that given a language such as English, Samoans in a post-colonial context did not restrict themselves to its prescribed or traditional meanings and codes as dictated by notions of standard usage, norms or conventions. Nor did it remain a separate entity which could not be incorporated into Samoan life. Instead, it was taken and used in different ways to fulfill Samoan 217

needs and desires. This included using it in its prescribed form, i.e. the use of Standard English, and also using it in a variety of non-standard forms. These non­ standard forms signified a cultural reality or in other words 'introduced the culture synecdochically' (Ashcroft 1988: 61) into Samoan English literary texts. The

English language was adopted as the medium of expression for such texts but it was changed and adapted so that the language could also signify a Samoan context of usage. The production of texts in Samoa, using the English language and other cultural influences, has been primarily a response to local needs. Whether the texts themselves are derived, appropriated, translated or adapted, they show that people use what they receive in different ways and develop various received forms

of c~ltural production into culturally relevant activities.

In the case studies which I have presented, it has been shown that to write or to use the language of the coloniser (in this case - English) does not mean that one is necessarily immersed in the coloniser's world nor does it mean that.the expression of a Samoan idea or message is necessarily inadequate because the language used is not Samoan. Furthermore, it does not mean that the Samoan person using English is any less Samoan because of this choice. This does not discount or minimalise the importance of keeping and using indigenous languages. Rather, the argument focuses on the availability of the language in terms of Achebe's argument that "I have been given the language and I intend to

use it.11 In African and other post-colonial countries this has been a point of

contention, and this study adds another perspective to this debate. It has been re­ affirmed that language does not inherently carry culture or identity. Instead, the successful use of any language (which is understood by both parties of sender and receiver) whether indigenous or imported can communicate aspects of culture and identity as well as other kinds of messages from one social group to another. 218

English itself is not confined to one variety, but evolves into many, of which Samoan English could be seen as one. The context of a situation has also been reaffirmed in this research as being crucial to making language or language variety choices. Standard English is a requirement in certain domains such as the school classroom and the courtroom, hence the imperial presence could be ascertained both in language use, communication procedure and physical layout. However, it was also apparent that there were always areas or gaps within which that dominance was not what it seemed to be. Dominance was not total because ways of using English signified a non-English presence; certain ways of acting, writing and speaking thereby signified a cultural difference even within the use of English. In this sense the study shows that Western Samoa as a post-colonial country can also exemplify Bhabha's theory of ambivalence in that colonialism generated the seeds of its own destruction by its creation of colonial subjects who became empowered by what was supposedly given in order to control them. The use of the English language became metonymic of that process in that it was no longer used in a strictly 'pure' English way but became a hybrid language.

Furthermore, Samoan society has been shown to be inadequately represented by the term, dualism as proposed by Keesing (1934) and ?thers. The study has demonstrated that the term 'hybridity' better describes the nature of Samoan cultural variation which was in process both before and after colonisation. In a post-colonial context, aspects from both Samoan and European culture have combined to produce new hybrid texts, which have been modified to suit the Samoan social environment. Although this study has focussed primarily on European innovations in Western Samoa through the English language and other social practices, it is also noted that there were, and are, other non-European influences which have also contributed to Samoan cultural hybridity. 219

The study has found that the colonial presence was not overwhelmingly dominant because a strong Samoan sense of identity, which was also represented by its language, traditional structures, and matai system of organisation countered it. Despite its reputation for being conservative and steadfast in its traditions, Samoan society was, and is, geared for change. This, paradoxically, has been one of its main strengths, in that change ensured the survival of Samoan culture amidst new structures and innovations, which were inevitable. Change did not mean weakening but strengthening the Samoan culture by ensuring that it has endured and flourished, even within domains where the imperial,presence was so obviously dominant. Hybridity is a crucial aspect of a culture, which can be seen as a dynamic process rather than a static structure.

Although cultural hybridity is shown primarily through language use in this study there are also associated practices such as religious observances, courtroom procedures, children•s playground activities and the parliamentary process which appear European but on close observation are shown to be hybrid. Neither the colonising European culture nor the Samoan can be regarded as being monolithic; indeed, the heterogeneous nature of Samoan culture has proved to be its greatest strength.

The discussion demonstrates Bhabha's (1994) use of the concept of ambivalence. Certain European based structures have been put into place in the independent nation of Western Samoa, such as Parliament and the Judicial System. However, such systems were 'not quite' the same as the European systems from which they were modelled. The 'not quite' aspect for Western Samoa, as it is for many other post-colonial countries, emerges primarily from the cultural element or thread which continued to weave its way through the colonial discourse of power. The introduced system of Western law car:mot be seen as the only system which 220

then existed because the society already had its own Matai system of law intact and in operation. The viability of both systems therefore inevitably led to a syncretisation of traditional and western rather than imperial domination or the separate maintenance of an unaffected, unchanged 'pure• Samoan culture.

In the domain of the court, it is clear that concepts such as that of 'the reasonable man• are perceived by some local lawyers and people in general as still too Eurocentric in its definition and application. It remains a focal debate as evidenced by numerous court cases similar to the one used as a case study in this thesis. The appropriation of the concept of 'the reasonable man• hinges very much on language and therefore as shown in this study, to translate literally without consideration of the context of a situation or the other•s world of being will often result in an unsatisfactory condition in which validity claims of truth, truthfulness and appropriateness are not met. Successful translations do not mean merely changing into the appropriate language but actually using that language effectively to translate into another cultural context, what is meant in one•s own. Such translations can also be seen as metonymic of an overall evolving process of change and adaptation between cultures (such as Samoan and European) which come into contact.

The notion that culture itself is a property of language and is therefore only accessible to native speakers has been invalidated by this research. Culture itself is made accessible in different ways, through the language of the culture, through translations into other languages, through different genres, forms, techniques and a wide range of social activities which are also mediums of expression. Samoan identity, therefore, is not only expressed in the Samoan language. As seen in the case studies presented, Samoan identity can be expressed in the way the English language is used by Samoan writers and other creative artists. Samoan identity is 221 expressed through non-traditional Samoan media such as radio and television, and in introduced European domains such as the court and the church. It can also be expressed by children of migrant Samoans who are born and raised in other countries. The myth of authenticity: one voice, one representation, one race, one way of being Samoan and being re.cognised as such, is clearly dismantled when we discover the complexity of contemporary Western Samoan society. Such a myth of authenticity may well be harmful in its obscuring of the heterogeneous reality of Samoan life.

Strategies of language variance in English have helped to construct a post­ colonial Samoan identity: the use of untranslated Samoan words in the text; syntactic fusions of Samoan and English; English words pronounced and spelt in a way which reflected a strong Samoan accent; the careful selection and combination of words which resulted in non-English connotations. Technically the features of such language use are similar to those used by other post-colonial countries except for the fact that each country in its use of English can signify its own identity.

The Samoan engagement with English has pervaded all aspects of life. In both formal and informal, traditional and modern domains English have become a common means of communication. The situations in which this occurs are as varied as the types of English which are required, a further evidence of the scope of appropriation, in that different varieties have also emerged in 'Samoan English' to suit the different situations of usage. They not only signify the place but also the range of people within the society and the different uses they put to the language. In some cases, such as the technical and scientific, English may fulfill a particular need better than Samoan. However, these terms may find their way into Samoan constructions and function as reference words within a Samoan conversation. The opposite strategy is also used in literary ar:td artistic writing in English where 222

Samoan words may function to signify a Samoan cultural specificity. The degree to which this practice occurs is dependent on the situation of the discourse, the message event. Deviation from Standard English usage for textual purposes is acceptable and useful as long as communication is being achieved.

The fact that children's writing is becoming much more available now in both English and Samoan is important because it can consciously impress at an early age that languages are there to be freely used for any purpose rather than restricted to certain functions. At an early age children can see that a language can convey any message. The availability of texts in English which are culturally suited and deal with familiar topics therefore lessens the effort of learning by making understanding more accessible at this early stage. With the vibrant production of popular culture also using English in non-standard ways; it becomes ever more important that children learn standard forms for a start because these do continue to be crucial for occupational and professional opportunities.

It has been maintained in this thesis that the context of a situation in language use is crucial to the understanding of that language or message event. The fact that a text has several meanings rather than- one points to the falsity of a monocentric perception of culture which can only be understood or expressed through the medium of that culture's language. The ability of languages to create and convey meanings metaphorically or otherwise is something which is important in communication as a whole. This realisation reaffirms the importance of usage within a situation rather than the choice of a particular language. Language use may be understood within a context of usage.

The original contribution that this thesis has made to scholarship therefore is to present Western Samoa as a case study of a post-colonial country which has 223 survived and developed as a result of, and in spite of this contact. Evidence shows this as a continuing complex process which is not always predictable. The model that emerges is one of a relationship between innovation, information flow and social change ill'ustrated by the appropriation of the English language and the subsequent creation of cross-cultural hybrid texts. The thesis contributes to post­ colonial theory in one of its premises, that it is engaged in a project which acknowledges and supports the promotion and development of indigenous languages and cultures which continue to provide an effective framework for people1s daily lives. The fact that they continue to be influenced and changed in various ways does not undermine their importance as living, dynamic languages and cultures.

The wh~le point of a text as being anything that has meaning is an acknowledgment of the human potential for communication in different forms. The medium in which such meanings have been conveyed in this thesis is .the written word - a form of language. This text, this tapestry of meanings and messages woven over time is no different from an ie toga - a Samoan fine mat. It is a work that is subject to appraisal by others within and without the community for its value as a craft, for its utility in social exchange. It is assessed by oneself and others for its quality, for what it represents, for what it says. Hence this work is offered in the spirit of the ie toga. In the weaving of words from both Samoan and English it is hoped that it will be worthy of the same response and acknowledgment;

... and the rest is silence. 1 Bibliography

Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart London: Heinemann Ltd.

Ache be, C. (1975) Morning Yet on Creation Day New York: Anchor Doubleday.

Adam, I. and H. Tiffin (eds) (1991) Past the Last Post: Theorising Post Colonialism and Post Modernism New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Adams, P. (ed.) (1973) Language in Thinking Middlesex: Penguin Education.

Aiono, F. (1986) "Western Samoa: The Sacred Covenant" in Land Rights of Pacific Women Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.

Alaelua, L. (1995) "Ghosting" in A. Wendt (ed.) Nuanua Pacific Writing in English since 1980 Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Alexander, J.C. (ed.) (1988) Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ·

Allen, H. B. (ed.) (1964) Readings in Applied Linguistics New York: Appleton Century Crofts.

Anderson, B. (1991) Imagined Communities London: Verso.

Arvidson, K. (1973) "Aspects of Writing in the South Pacific" in Mana Annual of Creative Writing. Suva.

Arvidson, K. (1976) "The Emergence of a Polynesian Literature" in Mana Review Vol. 1 no. 1: 28-48, Suva.

Ashcroft, W.D. (1978) "The Function of Criticism in a Pluralist World" in New Literature Review no. 6.

Ashcroft, W.D. (1987) "Language Issues Facing Commonwealth Writers: A Reply to D'Costa" in Journal of Commonwealth Literature 22 no.1.

Ashcroft, W.D. (1988) "Is that the Congo? Language as Metonymy in the Post Colonial Text" in B. Edwards (ed.) Literature and National Cultures Geelong Victoria: Centre for Studies in Literary Education, Deakin University.

Ashcroft, B. (1989) "Constitutive Graphonomy: A Post-Colonial Theory of Literary Writing" in Kunapipi XI: 1 11

Ashcroft, B., G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin (1989) The Empire Writes Back London: Routledge.

Ashcroft, B. (1990) "Identity through Change. Creative Arts in the South Pacific" in G. Me Call (ed.) Sydney Talk Australia in the South Pacific Sydney: Centre for Pacific Studies University of New South Wales. ·

Ashcroft, B., G. Griffiths and· H. Tiffin (1995) The Post-Colonial Studies "Reader London: Routledge

Austin, J.L. (1962) How to Do Things With Words New York: Oxford University Press.

Barthes, R. (1977) Image, Music, Text. Essays selected and translated by Stephen Heath New York: Hill and Wang.

Bauldau£, R.B. Jr. and Alan Luke (eds) (1989) Language Planning and Education in Australasia and the South Pacific Avon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Beilharz, P. (ed.) (1991) Social Theory: A Guide to Central Thinkers Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Benton, R.A. (1981) The Flight of the Amokura Oceanic Languages and Formal Education in the South Pacific Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research. ·

Bernstein, B. (1971) Class, Codes and Control Vol. 1, London: Routledge, Kegan and Paul.

Bertram, I. and R. Watters (1985) "The MIRAB Economy in South Pacific Microstates" in Pacific Viewpoint 26.

Bhabha, H.K. (1984) "Representation and the Colonial Text. A Critical Exploration of Some Forms of Mimeticism" in F. Gloversmith (ed.) The Theory of Reading Brighton: Harvester.

Bhabha, H.K. (1984) "Of Mimicry and Men: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse" in October 28: 125-33.

Bhabha, H.K. (1985a) "Signs Taken for Wonders: Questions of Ambivalence and Authority under a Tree Outside Delhi May 1817" in Critical Enquiry 12 Autumn Issue Chicago: The University of Chicago.

Bhabha, H.K. (1985b) "Sly Civility" in Octob~r 34: 71-8.

Bhabha, H.K. (1988) "The Commitment to Theory" in Ne·w Formations no. 5. iii

Bhabha, H.K. (1994) The Location of Culture New York: Routledge.

Bloch, M. (ed.) (1975) Political Language and Oratory in Traditional Society London: Academic Press.

Bolinger, D. (1975) Aspects of Language New York: Harcourt Brace.

Boudon, R. (1991) Theories of Social Change Cambridge: Polity Press.

Brathwaite, E.K. (1971) The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica 1770-1820 Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Brathwaite, E.K. (1984) 11 Nation Language11 in History of the Voice :Development of Nation Language in Anglophone Caribbean Poetnj London and Port of Spain: New Beacon.

Brand, A. (1990) The Force of Reason: An Introduction to Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action Sydney: Allen and Unwin.·

Brenneis, D. (1987) "Talk and Transformation" in Man (NS) 22:499-510.

Brookfield, H. (ed.) (1983) The Pacific in Transition. Geographical Perspectives on Adaptation and Change Canberra: Australian National University Press.

Brydon, D. (1989) "Commonwealth or Common Poverty? The New Literatures in English and the New Discourse of Marginality" inS. Siemon and H. Tiffin (eds) After Europe Mundelstrup: Dangaroo Press.

Brydon, D. (1991) "The White Inuit Speaks: Contamination as Literary Strategy" in I. Adam and H. Tiffin (eds) Past the Last Post New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Butcher, M. (ed.) (1989) Validation of Fiction: A Personal View of Imaginative Literature in Tibisri: Caribbean Writers and Critics Aarhus: Dangaroo Press.

Cassirer, E. (1944) An Essay on Man New Haven: Yale University Press.

Chapman, M. and P.S. Morrison (1985) "Mobility and Identity in the Island Pacific" A special issue of Pacific Viewpoint v.ol. 26, no. 1 April, 1985.

Chomsky, N. (1994) An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Lillian R. Putnam in The Reading Teacher Vol48, no. 4 .

Cohen, A.D. and E. Olshtain (1981) "Developing a Measure of Sociocultural Competence: The Case of Apology" in Language Learning 31.1 iv

Connell, J. (1991) "Island Micro States: The Mirage of Development" in The Contemporary Pacific 3: 251-188.

Connell, J. (1995) "In Samoan Worlds. Culture, Migration, Identity and Albert Wendt" in R. King, J. Connell & P. White (eds.) Writing Across Worlds London: Routledge.

Coulthard, M. (1988) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis New York: Longman Inc.

Crocombe, R. (1973) "Samoa's Albert Wendt: Poet and Author" in Mana Annual of Creative Writing Suva: University of the South Pacific Publication.

Crocombe, R. (ed.) R. (1977) Land Tenure in the Pacific Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Crocombe, R. (1989) The South Pacific: An Introduction Auckland: Longman Paul.

Crocombe, R., U. Neemia, A. Ravuvu and W. Vom Busch (1992) Culture and Democracy in the South Pacific Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Crystal, D. (1985) Linguistics Harmondsworth: Penguin Boo~s Ltd.

Crystal, D. (1987) The Cambridge EnCljclopedia of Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ·

Dash, M. (1974) "Marvellous Realism- The Way out of Negritude" in Carribean Studies Vol.13, no. 4.

Davidson, J.W. (1967) Samoa mo Samoa: T11e Emergence of the Independent State of Western Samoa London: Oxford University Press.

Derrida, J. (1976) OfGrammatologtj (translated by G.C. Spivak) Baltimore: Jolm Hopkins University.

Dibblin, J. (1988) Day of Two Suns: 1954 Nuclear Testing and the Pacific Islands London: Virago Press.

Diesing, P. (1972) "Patterns of Discovery in the Social Sciences" in P. Reason and J. Rowan (eds) (1981) Human Enquiry: A Sourcebook for new Paradigm Research Chicester: Jolm Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Duranti, A. (1981a) "Speechmaking and the Organisation of Discourse in a Samoan Fono" in Journal of Pacific Society 90. v

Duranti, A. (1981b) "The Samoan Fono: A Sociolinguistic Study" in Pacific Linguistics Monography Series B. Vol. 80, Australian National University.

Duranti, A. (1983) "Samoan Speeclunaking Across Social Events: One Genre In and Out of a Fono" in Journal of the Polynesian Sociehj 12.

Duranti, A. (1985) "Famous Theories and Local Theories: The Samoans and Wittgenstein" in The Quarterly Newsletter of the LaboratonJ of Comparative Human Cognition April, Vol. 7 no .2:46-50.

Duranti, A. (1989) "Politics and Grammar: Agency in Samoan Political Discourse" in American Ethnologist 17.

Duranti, A. (1990) "Doing Things With Words: Conflict Understanding and Change in a Samoan Fono'' in Watson-Gegeo and P. White (eds) Pacific Studies Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Duranti, A. (1992) "Heteroglossia in Samoan Or-atory" in Pacific Studies Vol. 15, no. 4.

During, S. (1992) Foucault and Literature: To·wards a Genealogy ofWriting London: Routledge

Eliot, T.S. (1962) Notes Toward the Definition of Culture London: Faber.

Epati, Aeau S. (1988) "Lawyers and the Customary Law Court" in C.G. Powles and M. Pulea (eds) Pacific Courts and Legal Systems Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Ervin-Tripp, S.M. (1969) "Sociolinguistic Rules of Address" inJ.B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Eteuati, K. (1962) Evaevaga a Samoa: Assertion of Samoan Autonomy Unpublished PhD Thesis: Australian National University.

Fa1amatuainu F. Tu1i (1987) Lauga- Samoan Oratory Apia: USP Centre.

Fairbairn Dunlop, P. (1984) "Factors Associated with Language Maintenance: The Samoans in New Zealand" in Pacific Islands Journal of Educational Studies November , Vol. 19no. 2.

Fairbairn Dunlop, P. (1985) "Samoan Writing: Searching for the Written Fagogo" in Pacific Islands Communication Journal14.1 Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies.

Fairbairn Dunlop, P. (1991) E au le Ina 1ilau a Tamaitai: Women, Education and Development in Western Samoa Unpublished PhD Thesis: Macquarie University. Vl

Farb, P. (1975) Word Play New York: Bantam Books.

Fee, M. (1988) "Why C.K. Stead didn1t like Keri Hulme1s The Bone_People. Who can write as 'Other1?" in Australian and New Zealand Studies in Canada 1:11-32.

Ferrier, E. (1992)' "The Return of the Repressed: The 'Empire' of the Local and Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River" in G. Whitlock and H. Tiffin Re-siting Queen's English Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Field, M. (1984) Mau: Samoa's Struggle against New Zealand Oppression Auckland: Reed.

Figiel, S. (1996a) Where We Once Belonged Auckland: Pasefika Press

Figiel, S. (1996b) The Girl in the Moon Circle Suva: Mana Publications

Fishman, J.A. (1986) "The Relationship between Micro- and Macro-Linguistics in the Study of Who Speaks What to Whom and When" in J .B. Pride and J .Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics Penguin: Harmondsworth.

Fishman, J.A. (ed.) (1972) Readings in the Sociology of Language Paris: Mouton.

Fillmore, C.J. and T. Langendoen (1968) Studies in Linguistic Semantics New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston. ·

Foucault M. (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interoiews and Other Writings 1972-1977 in C. Gordon (ed.) Brighton: Harvester Press.

Fox, C. (1992) A Critical Analysis of Intercultural Communication: Towards a New Theory Unpublished Phd Thesis: The University of Sydney.

Freeman, D. (1984) Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth Canberra: Australian National University.

Freese, A. (1988) "How American Policy and Practices Impact the Language and Culture of One American Pacific Island" Conference Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association New Orleans April 5-9.

Frornkin, V., R. Rodman, P. Collins and D. Blair (1987) An Introduction to Language Sydney: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Geertz, C. (1960) "Linguistic Etiquette" in J.B. Pride and J.Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics Harmondsworth: Penguin. . vii

Geertz, C. (1983) Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretative Anthropology New York: Basic Books.

Giddens, A. (1987) Social Theory and Modern Sociologt; Cambridge: Polity Press. Giddens, A. (1989) Sociologt; Cambridge: Polity Press.

Giddens, A. (1990) Durkheim London: Fontana.

Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences ofModernity Cambridge: Polity Press.

Giglioli, P .P. (ed.) (1975) Language and social Context: Selected Readings Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Giles, H., R.Y. Bourhis and D.M. Taylor (1977) "Towards a Theory of Language in Etlmic Group Relations" in H. Giles (ed.) Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relationships London: Academic Press.

Gilkes, M. (ed.) (1989) The Literate Imagination: Essays on the Novels ofWilson Harris Macmillan Caribbean Warwick University: Warwick.

Gilson, R.P. (1970) Samoa 1830-1900: The Politics ofa Multi Cultural Community Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life New York: Doubleday.

Goffman, E.' (1963) Behaviour in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organisation of Gatherings New York: Free Press of Glenco.

Goodenough, W. (1965) "Rethinking 'Status' and 'Role': Toward a General Model of the Cultural Organization of Social Relationships" in M. Banton (ed.) The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology Praeger

Greer, L.J. (1933) Law Report: King•s Bench Division London: Butterworth and Co.

Griffiths, G. (1994) "The Myth of Authenticity, Representation Discourse and Social Practice" in C. Tiffin and P. Lawson (eds) De-scribing Empire London: Routledge; also in B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin (eds) (1995) The Post-colonial Studies Reader London: Routledge.

Grimshaw, A.D. (1981) Language as Social Resource Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Gumperz, J.J. (1971) Language in Social Groups Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Habermas, J. (1984) Theory of Communicative Action Vol. 1 Cambridge: Polity Press. vm

Halliday, M.A.K. (1986) Language as a Social Semiotic Victoria: Edward Arnold.

Harris, W. (1973) Tradition, the Writer and SociehJ= Critical Essays London: New Beacon.

Harris, W. (1981) Explorations Aaarhus: Dangaroo Press.

Harris, W. (1983) The Womb of Space: The Cross-Cultural Imagination London: Greenwood Press.

Hauofa, E. (1986) "The Future of our Past" in Bulletin of the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific no. 27.

Helliwelt C. (1991) 1/Many Voices: Rhetoric and Ethnographic Understanding in a Borneo Dayak Conununity" in A. Pawley (ed.) A Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobiology in Honour of Frank Bulmer Polynesian Society: Auckland.

Hempenstall, P.J. (1978) Pacific Islanders Under German Rule: A Study in the Meaning of Colonial Resistance Canberra: Australian National University.

Hereniko, V. (1993) "Following in her Footsteps: An interview with Albert Wendt" in A Pacific Journal of International Writing Vol. 5 no.1, Honolulu: University. of Hawaii Press.

Hereniko, V. (1993) "Comic Theater of Samoa: An Interview with J.A. Kneubuhl" in A Pacific Journal of International Writing Vol. 5 no.1, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Hickerson N.P. (1980) Linguistic Anthropologtj New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.

Holmes, L. (1986) Samoan Village New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Holst-Petersen KandA. Rutherford (1976) Enigma of Values: An Introduction to Wilson Harris Aarhus: Dangaroo Press.

Howard, A. (1992) "Cultural Paradigms, History and the Search for Identity in Oceania" in J. Linnekin and L. Poyer (eds) Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Howell, R.W. (1967) Linguistic Choice as an Index to Social Change PhD Dissertation: University of California, Berkeley. · ix

Hoy, D.C. (ed.) (1986) Foucault: A Critical Reader Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.

Hudson, R.A. (1987) Sociolinguistics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Huebner, T. (1986) "Vernacular Literacy, English as a Language of Wider Communication, and Language Shift in American Samoa" in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development Vol. 7 no. 5.

Huebner, T. (1989) "Language and Schooling in Western and American Samoa" in World Englishes Vol. 8 no.1: 59-72.

Hutcheon, L. (1988) A Poetics ofPostmodernism: History, Theon;, Fiction, New York: Methuen.

Hymes, D.H. (1971) "On Communicative Competence" in J.B. Pride and J.Holmes (eds) (1972) Sociolinguistics Penguin: Harmondsworth

Ihimaera, W. (ed.) (1992) Te Ao Marama Contemporary Maori Writing Auckland: Reed.

Inayatullah (1967) "Toward a Non Western Model of Development" in Communication and Change in the Developing Countries in D. Lerner and W. Schramm (eds) Honolulu: East West Centre Press.

Islands Business Pacific (1992) February Issue "The Man Who was Erased from the Book"

Islands Business Pacific (1992) February Issue "What's corruption to Some can be Custom to Others."

Islands Business Pacific (1992) November Issue "Pacific TV: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth"

Jolly, M. and N. Thomas (1962) "Introduction to the Politics of Tradition in the Pacific" in Oceania 82.

Kachru B. B. (1980) "The Pragmatics of Non-native Varieties of English" in L.E. Smith (ed.) English for Cross Cultural Communication London: Macmillan.

Kachru, B.B. (1986) The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non­ Native Englishes Oxford: Pergamon Institute.

Kalin R. (1982) "The Social Significance of Speech in Medical, Legal and Occupational Settings" in Ellen Bouchard Ryan and Howard Giles (eds) Attitudes Towards Language Variation London: Edward Arnold. X

Kamu, L. (1996) The Samoan Culture and the Christian Gospel Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Keesing, F. M. (1934) Modern Samoa. Its Government and Changing Life London: Allen and Unwin.

Keesing, F.M. and M. (1956) Elite Communication in Samoa: A Study of Leadership Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Keesing, R.M. (1989) "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity" in The Contemporary Pacific Vol.1 no. 1 & 2 Spring and Fall.

Keesing, R.M. (1990) "The Power of Talk" in K.A. Watson Gegeo and G.M. White (eds) Disentangling. Conflict Discourse in Pacific Societies Stanford: University Press.

Kincaid, J. (1988) A Small Place Virago: London

Kneubuhl, J. (1991) Think of a Garden Unpublished manuscript.

Kneubuhl, J. (1985) "The Samoan Identity" Unpublished manuscript.

Kramer, A. (1902) Die Samoan Insein einer Monographie mit besonderer Berueksichtigung Deutsch-Samoas 2 Vols. (English translation by E. and G. De Beer) Stuttgart: E.Schweizerbart.

Kruse Vaai E. (1984) "Tofa Grandma" in School Journal Part 4 no. 2. Wellington: School Publications Branch. Samoan Translation (1994) "Tofa Tina Matua" in Tala Tusia 2 Wellington: Learning Media Ltd.

Kruse Vaai, E. (1986) "Travels With My Pig" in School Journal Part 3 no. 1. Wellington: School Publications Branch. Samoan Translation (1994) "0 la rna Malaga rna La'u Pua'a" in Tala Tusia 2, Wellington: Learning Media Ltd.

Labov, W. (1966) The Social Stratification of English in New York Washington D.C.: Centre for Applied Linguistics

.Labov, W. (1969) "Contraction, Deletion and Inherent Variability of the English Copula" in Language: 45: 715-62.

Labov, W. (1970) "The Study of Language in Its Social Context" in J.B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics Auckland: Penguin Books.

Labov, W. (1972) Language in the Inner City ~hiladelphia: University of Pensylvania Press. xi

Lakoff, R. (1973) Language and Woman's Place New York: Harper and Row.

Lambert, W.E. (1974) "Culture and language as Facto~s in Learning and Education" in F.E. Aboud and R.D. Mead (eds) Cultural Factors in Learning and Education Bellingham: Western Washington State College.

Lane, C. (1985) "Mis-corrununications in Cross-Examinations" in J.B. Pride (ed) Cross cultural Encounters: Communication and Mis-communication Melbourne: River Seine.

LePage, R.B. (1964) The National Language Question: Linguistic Problems ofNewly Independent States, London: Oxford University Press.

LePage, R.B. (1968) "Problems to be Faced in the Use of English as the Medium of Education in Four West Indian Territories" in J.A. Fishman and J. Das Gupta (eds) Language Problems ofDeveloping Nations New York: Wiley.

Lilomaiava Niko, S. (1993) MigratonJ Patterns: A Samoan Case Study Unpublished M.A. Thesis: University of Hawaii.

Linnekin, J. (1992) "On the Theory and Politics of Cultural Construction in the Pacific" in Oceania 62.

Long, D.S., and W. Ihimaera (1985) Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori Writing Auckland: Heinemann.

Loveland, J.K. (1967) The Establishment of the Instruments ofModern Rule in Western Samoa Unpublished PHD Thesis: American University.

Me Call, G. (ed.) (1992) Arguing for Aid: Some Australian Voices Pacific Studies Monograph no. 5. Sydney: The University of New South Wales Centre for Pacific Studies.

Me Crum, R. W. Cran, and R. Mac Neil (1987) The Ston1 of English London: Faber and Faber.

MacDonnell D. (1991) Theories of Discourse. An Introduction Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

MacPherson, C. (1985) "Public and Private Views of Home: Will Western Samoan Migrants Return?" in Pacific Viewpoint Vol. 26.

Me Quown, N.A. (1982) Essays on Language, Culture and Education Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Me Robbie, A. (1991) "New Times in Cultural Studies" in New Formations no. 13, Spring. xu

Maes-Jelinek H. (1991) "Numinous Proportions: Wilson Harris1s Alternative to all 'Posts'•• in I. Adam and H. Tiffin (eds) Past the Last Post Theorizing Post Colonialism and Post Modernism New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Maiai, F. (1957) A Study of the Developing Pattern of Education and the Factors influencing that Development in Ne'lo Zealand• s Pacific Dependencies. Unpublished M.A. Thesis: Victoria University of Wellington.

Maiai, F. (1960a) Stories of Old Samoa Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs.

Maiai, F. (1960b) Bilingualism in Western Samoa: Its Problems and Implications for Education Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis: University of London. ' Malietoa Von Reiche, M. (1979a) Solaua, A Secret Embryo Apia: Samoa Printing.

Malietoa Von Reiche, M. (1979b) Paalimago on Wet Days Apia: Samoa Printing.

Malietoa Von Reiche, M. (1986) Alaoa Apia: Samoa Printing.

Malifa, S. (1992) Song and Return: Poems and a Satirical play Apia: Samoa Observer Publications.

Malifa, S. (1975) Looking down at the Waves Suva: Mana Publications.

Malifa, S. (1990) Poems Apia: Samoa Observer Publications.

Malif~, T. (1988) The Franchise in the Constitution ofWestern Samoa: Towards a Theory of the Constitution Incomplete. Unpublished LLM Thesis: Harvard University.

Manoa, P. (1976) "Singing in Their Genealogical Trees: South Pacific Poetry" in Mana Review Vol.1 no.1, January.

Maybury-Lewis, D. (1985) Millenium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World New York: Viking Penguin.

Mead, M. (1928) Coming ofAge in Samoa Victoria: Penguin Books Ltd.

Meleisea, M. (1980) "We Want the Forest Yet Fear the Spirits: Culture and Change in Western Samoa" in Pacific Perspective Vol. 9.

Meleisea, M. (1987) The Making ofModern Samoa Suva: University of the South Pacific. Xlll

Meredith-Atualevao, R. (1993) "The Transmission of Cultural Knowledge. Art Education in Samoa: Acculturated Identity" Unpublished Paper presented at the Pacific Arts Association: 5th International Symposium Sydney.

Milner, A. (1991) Contemporary Cultural Theon;: An Introduction Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Milroy, L. and S. Margrain (1977) "Vernacular Language Loyalty and social Network" Belfast Working Papers in Language and Linguistics 3: 1-58.

Min-Ha, Trinh T. (1995) "No Master Territories" in B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths and H. Tiffin (eds) The Post-Colonial Studies Reader London: Routledge.

Morley, D. and K. Robbins (n.d.) "Spaces of Identity" in Screen 30: 4 Autumn.

Mosel, U. and E. Hordhaugen (1992) Samoan Reference Grammar Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.

New, W.H. (1978) "New Language, New World" in Awakened Consdence: Studies in Commonwealth Literature London: Heinemann.

Ngugi wa Thiogo (1981) "The Language of African Literature" in Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature London: James Currey.

Norris, C. (1982) Deconstruction: Theory and Practice London: Routledge.

Ntumy, M.A. (ed.) (1993) South Pacific Islands Legal Systems Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Novitz, D. and B. Willmott (1989) Culture and Identity Wellington: G.P. Books.

Ochs, E. (1988) Culture and Language Development: Language Acquisition and Language Socialisation in a Samoan Village Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Okara, G. (1963) "African Speech... English Words" in Transition 10 September.

Olshtain, E. and A.D. Cohen (1983) "Apology: A Speech-Act Set" in Nessa Wolfson & Elliot Judd (eds) Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition Newbury House Rowley.

O'Meara, J.T. (1987) "Samoa: Customary Individualism" in R.G. Crocombe (ed.) Land Tenure in the Pacific 3rd edition Suva: University of the South Pacific.

O'Meara, J.T. (1990) Samoan Planters: Tradition and Economic Development in Polynesia Lond~n: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. XIV

O'Rourke, V. (1992) "A Tribute to the Fa' a Samoa: Albert Wendt's Birth and Death of the Miracle Man" in World Literature Today Winter, 66:1,.51-55.

Pacific Languages: Directions for the Future (1984) Report on the Conference: August 1984. Vila.

Parkin, F. (1988) Max Weber London: Routledge.

Parry, B. (1995) "Problems in Current Theories of Post-Colonial Discourse" in B. Ashcroft, G Griffiths, and H. Tiffin (eds) The Post-Colonial Studies Reader London: Routledge.

Penman, R. (1987) "Discourse in Courts: Cooperation, Coercion, and Coherence" in Discourse Processes 10: 201-18. '

Pereira, J. (1983) General Bibliography: A Checklist of Selected Material on Samoa Vol. 1 Apia: USP Extension Services.

Petaia, R. (1980) Blue Rain Apia: USP Centre.

Petaia, R. (1992) Patches of the Rainbow Apia: Samoa Observer Publishers.

Petersen, K.H. and A. Rutherford (eds) (1986) A Double Colonisation: Colonia,l and Post­ Colonial Women's Writing Mundelstrup: Dangaroo Press.

Pitt, D. and C. Mac Pherson (1974) Emerging Pluralism: The Samoan Community in New Zealand Auckland: Longman Paul.

Platt, J., H. Weber and M.L. Ho (1984) The New Englishes Boston: Routledge Kegan and PauL

Powles, G.; R. Crocombe and M. Pulea Kite (eds) (1977) Pacific Courts and Justice Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies.

Powles, G. (1986) "Legal Systems and Political Cultures: Competition for Dominance in Western Samoa" in P. Sack and E. Minchin (eds) Legal Pluralism Canberra: Australian National University.

Powles, G., and M. Pulea (1988) Pacific Courts and Legal Systems Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Powles, G. (1993) "Western Samoa: Legal Systems" in M.A. Ntumy South Pacific Islands Legal Systems Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Pride, J.B. and J. Holmes (eds) (1986) Sociolinguistics Auckland: Penguin. XV

Pusey, M. (1987) Jurgen Habermas Chichester: Ellis Horwood Ltd.

Putnam, L.R. (1995) "An Interview with Chomsky" in The Reading Teacher. Vol. 8, no. 4 Dec. 1994/Jan. 1995.

Rao, R. (1978) "The Caste of English" in C.D. Narasimhaiah (ed.) Awakened Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature New Delhi: Heinemann.

Richmond, P.G. (1970) An Introduction to Piaget New York: Basic Books Inc. Publishers.

Ricoeur, P. (1970) The Rule of Metaphor: Multi Disciplinary Studies of Creation of Meaning in Language London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Ricoeur, P. (1971) "The Model of the Text: Meaningful action Considered as a Text" in Social Research: An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences Vol. 38, New York: Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research.

Ritchie, J. and J. (1979) Growing Up in Polynesia Sydney: George Allen and Unwin.

Said, E. (1978) Orientalism London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Said, E. (1991) The World, the Text and the Critic London: Vintage.

Said, E. (1993) Culture and Imperialism London: Chatto and Windus.

Samoa News 17 Feb. 1993 "John Kneubuhllives on in the words he left behind."

Samoa Observer 3 Nov. 1991 "Language is not the Issue."

Samoa Observer 3 Nov. 1991"English Press Ban Upheld- Tuilaepa."

Samoa Observer 31 July 1992 "Friends, there•s poetry in thy madness."

Samoa Observer 19 Aug. 1992 "GST- A Law of Love says Tofilau."

Samoa Observer 19 Aug. 1992 "Samoan Tax Law in English Alone?"

Samoa Observer 21 Aug. 1992 "Pompous Official Language Kills Understanding"

Samoa Observer 21 Feb. 1993 "Samoa finds a Shakespeare."

Samoa Observer 12 March 1993 "Time to shake ourselves awake."

11 11 Samoa Observer 9 May 1993 Light at the End : A Drama Production." XVI

Samoa Observer 9 May 1993 11 The Role of TV in Western Samoa11 Winning Speech by Esau Lafaele: 1993 Secondary Schools1 English Speech C9mpetition.

Samoa Observer 31 Aug. 1993 "Man sentenced to two years on indecent assau1e'

Samoa Observer 1 Oct. 1993 "Main suspects turned in by Matai."

Samoa Observer 3 Oct. 1993 "Saddest day for Samoa."

Samoa Observer 3 Oct. 1993 "Youth Gangs in Samoa?"

Samoa Observer 3 Oct. 1993 "Two arrested following shooting."

Samoa Observer 8 Oct. 1993 "Time to sit back and reconsider."

Samoa Observer 20 Oct. 1993 "Lona Villagers await sentencing next month."

Samoa Observer 22 Oct. 1993 "Police Chief to defend Matai Rule in Papua Meeting."

Samoa Observer 7 Nov. 1993 "Village Fono Act provides for punishment but not burning of houses - according to Court."

Samoa Observer 12 Nov. 1993 "Convicted Murderer sentenced to death."

Samoa Observer 21 April1995 #Unusual PNG compensation payment."

Sanko££, G. (1980) The Social Life of Language Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

Sapolu, F. (1988) "Adjudicators in Western Samoa" in C. G. Powles and M. Pulea (eds) Pacific Courts and Legal Systems Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Sarup, M. (1989) An Introductory Guide to Post Structuralism and Post Modernism Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Savali Aug. 31992 11Tiava'asu1e Falefatu Maka Sapolu is new Chief Justice."

Schramm, W.; L. Nelson and M. Betham (1981) Bold Experiment: The Story of Educational Television in American Samoa Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Selden, R. (1985) A Reader 1s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory Sussex: The Harvester Press Ltd.

Seliger, H.W., and E. Shohamy (1989) Second Language Research Methods Oxford: Oxford University Press. xvii

Sharrad, P. (ed.) (1993) Readings in Pacific Literature Wollongong: University of Wollongong.

Shore, B. (1982) Salailua: A Samoan Mystery New York: Columbia University Press.

Shore, B. (1996) "The Absurd Side of Power in Samoa" in R. Feinberg & K. Watson­ Gegeo (eds) Leadership and Change in the Western Pacific London: The Althone Press.

Simi, T. (1992) A Deeper Song Apia: Samoa Observer Publishers.

Simi, N. (1992) Sails of Dawn: La Folau ole Vaveao Apia: Samoa Observer Publishers.

Simi, N. (1995) "What are We? On the Mead/Freeman Debate" in A. Wendt (ed.) Nuanua Pacific Writing since 1980 Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Sinavaiana, C. (1992) Traditional Comic Theatre in Samoa: A Holographic View Unpublished PhD dissertation, Honolulu: University of Hawaii.

Siemon, S. and H. Tiffin (1989) After Europe: Critical Theon; and Post-Colonial Writing Sydney: Dangaroo Press.

Soyinka, W. (1990) Myth, Literature and the African World Cambridge: Canto.

Stead, C.K. (1985) "Keri Hulme's The Bone People and the Pegasus Award for Maori Literature" in Ariel 16.

Stephens, G. (1992) "Interracial Dialogue in Rap Music: Call and Response in Multicultural style" in New Formations no.16.

Subramani, (1985) South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.

Talamua: The Samoan Monthly Magazine Aug. (1994) "A Night at the Opera."

Tamati, P. (1980) Special Report on the Development of Education in Western Samoa Apia: Ministry of Education.

Tanner, N. (1967) "Speech and Society among the Indonesian Elite: A Case study of a Multilingual Community" inJ.B. Pride and J. Holmes (eds) Sociolinguistics Auckland: Penguin.

Taua'a Matalavea S. (1991) Women and Development: A Case Study in Western Samoa Unpublished M.A. Thesis: University of Adelaide. xviii

Tawake, S. (1990) "South Pacific Literature in English Education" in Journal of Reading 34: 3 November Issue.

The New Zealand Herald Feb.41994 "Driver sent to jail despite family plea."

The Samoa Times'12 November 1993 "Defendant guilty of murder- sentenced to death."

The .Samoa Times 28 Sept. 1993 "Man reported shot in the forehead while wife and children followed behind."

The Samoa Times 28 Sept. 1993 "Police concerned with contradiction in the fa1a Samoa and the Constitutional Law."

The Samoa Times 9 Nov. 1993 "Magistrate sentenced 29 Lona men to jail".

Thomas, M.R. and T. N. Postlethwaite (eds) (1984) Schooling in the Pacific Islands London: Pergamon

Thomas, N. (1990) "Partial Texts: Representation, Colonialism and Agency in Pacific History" in The Journal of Pacific History 25:139-158.

Thomas, P. (1986) Dimensions of Diffusion: Delivering Primary Health Care and Nutritional Information in Western Samoa Unpublished PHD Thesis: Australian 'National University.

Thomas, P. (1987) "Mass Media- Mass Dependency" in Pacific Islands Communication Journal Vol.15 no.1 Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific.

Thompson, J.B. (1976) Critical Hermeneutics: A Study of the Thought of Paul Ricoeur and Jurgen Habermas Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tiffin, C. (1978) "A Review of Albert Wendt's Pouliuli" in Mana Vol. 3, no. 1.

Tiffin, H. (1984) "Commonwealth Literature and Comparative Methodology" in World Literature Written in English Vol. 23: 1.

Tiffin, H.(1988) "Post-Colonialism, Post Modernism and the Rehabilitation of Post­ colonial History" in Journal of Commonwealth Literature Vol. 23, no. 1:160-181.

Tiffin, H. (1987) "Post Colonial Literatures and Counter Discourse" in Kunapipi 9:3.

Tiffin, H. (1988) "Post-colonialism, Post-modernism and the Re-habilitation of Post­ Colonial History" in Journal of Commonwealth Literature Vol. 23, no.1. xix

Todd, L. (1982) "The English Language in West Africa" in R.W. Bailey and M. Gorlach (eds) English as a World Language Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.

Topping, D. (1983) "Identity and Literacy: The Power of the Written Word" in Pacific Perspective Vol. 12, no. 2, Suva: South Pacific Social Sciences Association.

Trask, H. (1991) "Natives and Anthropologists: The Colonial Struggle" in The Contemporary Pacific 3. ·

Trudgill, P.(1983) Sociolinguistics London: Penguin.

Tunumafono A. Aiavao (1983) "Who's playing Naked now? Religion and Samoan Culture" in Pacific Perspectives Vol.12.

Tupua Tamasese Taisi Efi (1989) Ia Fa'agaganaina oe e le Atua Fetalai Apia: Commercial Printers Ltd.

Tupua Tamasese Taisi (1993) "Why the Riddle in Samoan Politics" Unpublished Manuscript.

UNESCO (1992) Pacific Islands Literacy Levels: A Criterion Referenced Study Suva: South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment.

Va'ai, A.V.S. (1988) "The Western Samoa Legal Profession" in C.G. Powles and M. Pulea (eds) Pacific Courts and Legal Systems Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Venn, C. (1992) "Subjectivity, Ideology and Difference: Recovering Otherness" in New Formations no. 16 Spring.

Violette, L. (1870) Notes D'un Missionare Sur L'Archipel de Samoa in Miss. Cath. Lyon.

Walcott, D. (1974) "The Muse of History" in Orde Coombes (ed.) Is Massa Day Dead? Black Moods in the Caribbean, New York: Doubleday.

Wardaugh, R. (1987) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Watson-Gegeo, K.A. (1987) 11Introduction: English in the South Pacific" in World Englishes 8; London: Pergamon Press.

Weber, M. (1930) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism London: Harper Collins.

Wendt, A. (1965) Guardians and Wards Unpublished M.A. Thesis: Victoria University of Wellington. XX

Wendt, A. (n.d.) "Western Samoa1s first strike. A Foreign Invention which became Samoan Overnight" in Pacific Perspective Vo1.10, no. 1.

Wendt, A. (1976a) Inside us the Dead. Poems 1964 to 1974 Auckland: Longman Paul.

Wendt, A. (1976b) "Towards a new Oceania" in Mana Vo1.1, no.1.

Wendt, A. (1978) 11 The Artist and the Reefs Breaking Open" in Mana Vol. 3, no.1.

Wendt, A. (ed.) (1980) Lali: A Pacific Anthology Auckland: Longman Paul. . Wendt, A. (1986) The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man Auckland: Penguin.

Wendt, A. (1987) "Novelists and Historians and the Art of Remembering" in A. Hooper et al Class and Culture in the South Pacific Suva: Institute of the South Pacific, University of the South Pacific.

Wendt, A. (1995) Nuanua: Pacific Writing in English Since 1980 Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Western Samoa Government (1972) Criminal Procedure Act

Western Samoa Government (1978) Reprint of the Statutes ofWestern Samoa (1920- 1977) Vol.1.

Western Samoa Government (1982) S.C. 1982 No. 5979 Western Samoa Constitution.

Western Samoa Government (1984) National University Act

Western Samoa Government (1986) Cabinet Minutes: 6.

Western Samoa Government (1987) Educational Polietj and Development: Looking Towards the 1990 1s.

Western Samoa Government (1990) Village Fono Act: S4

Western Samoa Government (1992) Seventh Development Plan (DP71992-94) Apia: National Planning Office, ~rime Minister1s Dept.

Western Samoa Government (1993) ·The 1989 Annual Report of the Department of Education.

Western Samoa Government (1994) The 199Q Annual Report of the Department of Education. xxi Western Samoa Government (1994) Western Samoa Law Reports: 1970-1979 (1994) Vol. 10, Apia.

Western Samoa Government (1995) Education, Management, Information Systems Apia: Education Policy and Planning Committee.

Western Samoa Government (1995) Education Policies Apia: Education Policy and Planning Committees.

Whitlock, G. and H. Tiffin (eds) (1992) Re-siting Queen's English. Text and Tradition in Post-Colonial Literature Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Widdowson, H. G. (1985) Explorations in Applied Linguistics Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Widdowson, H.G. (1986) Explorations in Applied Linguistics 2 Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Widdowson, P. (1982) Re-reading English London: Methuen.

Williams, M. and A. Riach (1989) #Finding the Centre: English Poetry after the Empire" inS. Siemon and H. Tiffin (eds) After Europe: Critical Theory and Post Colonial Writing Mundelstrup: Dangaroo Press.

Williams, R. (1985) To·wards 2000 Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Withers, G. (1992) Pacific Islands Literact; levels Apia: UNESCO Publications.

Wolfson, N. and E. Judd (eds) (1983) Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition Rowley: Newbury House Publishers Inc.

Zabus, C. (1985) u A Calibanic Tempest in Anglophone and Francophone New World Writing" in Canadian Literature 104 Spring.

Recordings:

Bach, J.S. Air on a G-String 2nd Movement from Suite no. 3 in D._Major. Islandhood (1995) Turtle Turtle Licensed to South Pacific Regional Environment. Mamaia P. (1992) Tusitala Samoa Auckland: Parker's Music World Ltd. Mamaia, P. (1992) Ice Ice Baby- Uiga o Samoa Pago Pago: South Seas Records. Tama Uli (1991) Sui le Palata- Samoan Reggae Auckland: Parker's Music World Ltd. Taukatea (1992) Au Sikolasipi Apia: Piula Studio. Vanilla Ice (1990) Ice Ice Baby oOo