To the root: adopted memoirs of a Samoan princess in exile Item Type Thesis Authors Hassel, Jody Marie Download date 01/10/2021 06:09:46 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11317 TO THE ROOT: ADOPTED MEMOIRS OF A SAMOAN PRINCESS IN EXILE By Jody Marie Hassel RECOMMENDED: Advisor)' Committee Chair iZU-LtCk\ Chair, Department of English APPROVED: TO THE ROOT: ADOPTED MEMOIRS OF A SAMOAN PRINCESS IN EXILE A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS By Jody Marie Hassel, B.A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 2012 Ill Abstract To the Root: Adopted Memoirs of a Samoan Princess in Exile traces the author’s eventful search for and reunion with members of biological family In a memoir of personal essays. The author’s search for her birthfather explores thematic elements of loss, abandonment, cultural identity, racial identity, and reconciliation. The memoir explores and challenges boundaries of creative nonfiction through a mosaic of extended narrative scenes and lyric personal reflection. Autobiographical scenes convey the author’s family life and upbringing in Interior Alaska tracing her journey through to adulthood, when she travels to Samoa to receive a traditional rite-of-passage tattoo and familial royal title. Resisting an entirely linear retelling of accounts, impressionist reflections on yoga and Polynesian dance are connected to the author’s experience of adoption. To the Root reaches a deeper understanding of self as adoptee, as daughter, as agent of lineage. iv Dedicated to Joan Marie Braley, Gerald Lee Hassel, and Diana Marie Hunter and in memory of Seagai Saimana Faumuina v Table of Contents Page Signature Page ............................................................................................................................. i Title Page ...................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract......................................................................................................................................... iii Dedication.....................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents.........................................................................................................................v List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. vii 1.Bloo d ...........................................................................................................................................1 2. W ater...........................................................................................................................................1 3. Re-Pulse .....................................................................................................................................2 4. Sky..............................................................................................................................................21 5. La’ititi Lacuna...........................................................................................................................21 6. Afakasi in the F a le ................................................................................................................... 31 7. Tufuga Ta Tatau ........................................................................................................................46 8. Body Guard ............................................................................................................................... 53 9. Curfew........................................................................................................................................ 56 10. Aotoa M alepeai .......................................................................................................................57 11. Lefaga ......................................................................................................................................61 12. Royal Goose Chase ................................................................................................................64 13. The Homeless Samoan Prince .............................................................................................66 14. Local Motion 74 vi 15. The Family Enrichment Society ..........................................................................................79 16. Tuimaleali’ifano .....................................................................................................................84 17. B lack........................................................................................................................................91 18. Root Structure Characteristics .............................................................................................91 19. All the Feathers .....................................................................................................................108 20. Sunday Drive ........................................................................................................................ 115 21. Koko A li’i ............................................................................................................................... 121 22. H om ing .................................................................................................................................. 127 23. The Signified ..........................................................................................................................131 24. Genealogical Research .........................................................................................................136 25. Playback................................................................................................................................. 141 26. Harbinger...............................................................................................................................148 27. The Space Left Behind .........................................................................................................152 28. Sand, Stone, Sun ...................................................................................................................158 Works Consulted ..........................................................................................................................161 Appendix 162 vii List of Figures Figure 1: His Noodliness the creator ........................................................................................ 23 Figure 2: The Homeless Prince table of contents, Introduction and Chapter 1 ............. 69 Figure 3: The Homeless Prince table of contents, Chapter II and Chapter III.............. 70 Figure 4: The Homeless Prince table of contents, Chapter III......................................... 71 Figure 5: The Homeless Prince table of contents, Chapters III, IV, and V ...................72 1 1. Blood In a third world country you don’t play games with blood. And it’s not third. There is no third. So stop thinking you know anything about what world you’re in. Sit here, on the porch fanning your palm leaf fan and stop picking at the pink shopping bag trim that wraps the edge of each dried frond. You’re going to ruin it. Resourceful. That’s what these people are. Resourceful, and they will eat you if you don’t play nice. And stop laughing like you know what’s funny; you can’t read these bodies. These bodies are breadfruit and taro. All umu and palusam i, not tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches like you. You can write this all down if you want, but don’t keep it in your bag or your room. Post it off as fast as you can. It won’t matter anyway. Because when you go to read it later, the stories will have disappeared like practical joke ink letters. Try to relax. It’s too hot to think about blood. 2. Water Cold water can’t stop me. I’m in the Pacific in my underwear in Santa Cruz. It’s October, so no one else on the beach is in the water or in beach clothes. I can’t help it. When I get near ocean, I have to get in. Gray water over clay-colored sand reflects a cloud-muted sky around timid toes. I step from the edge. Sloshing around till the murky salts are above my knee, the chill keeps me from plunging under so I stand there, the cold numbing down the shivers, and appreciate the fact that I am wearing a dark blue bra and black panties that might, at a distance, pass for swimwear. Something about ice water calls to me. Every short Interior Alaska summer of my youth, I splashed through icy 2 lakes, ponds, and makeshift pools drawn from creeks by bulldozers. Even in adulthood, I can’t stay out of the water. And I have that whispering imp of the perverse at my ear whenever I lean over the rail of a boat or step to the edge of a seaside cliff— jump, jump. I want to lose myself in aqueous envelopes of weightless suspense, answer calls from the deep that tug at my shins in the sway of waves. But today the water is too dark. I don’t know what rocks lurk below. I stand here, in ocean. The Pacific that usually feels like home in Hawaii seems foreign to me in California, and I’m pulled into remembering something a long time ahead, islands, ideas, belonging. Where I normally feel connected and whole, this water around my feet only spells out distance. I am far, far from you. And I wonder,