ROOTEDNESS IN ‘AIGA: WORK AND MOVEMENT AMONG TEINE ULI IN SAMOA AND AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY NOVEMBER 2007 By Asenati Liki Dissertation Committee Murray Chapman, Chairperson Mary McDonald Miriam Sharma Brian Murton Peter Pirie ' ACKNOWLEDGMENT This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of many people and organizations. The Teine uli and their families in Samoa and Auckland, New Zealand, embraced this study as if it was their own and willingly shared their time and stories. Twelve first generation Teine uli are the bedrock of this project which tries to build on their accomplishments: Lesa Puavasa, Lesao Muliau, Tufue Tifaga Terllam, Faanunu Taua, Lepeka Toetu, Faamata Uila, Losi Liki, Losa Leiataua Tunu, Tafiaiga Ioane, Apo Sataraka, Litia Likou, and Tasi Faafili. Faafetai le alofa. Faamalo i lou tou titi fai tama. Special fa’afetai tele to Aumua Mata’itusi Simanu for sharing her wealth of knowledge of Samoan culture. Malo fa’afetai le agalelei. Financial support for this research, for which I am sincerely grateful, was received from the East-West Center, University of Hawai’i College of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Women Graduates, the Samoa Association of Women Graduates and the University of the South Pacific. I am indebted to my committee who supported me all the way. Mahalo to Professors Miriam Sharma, Mary McDonald, Brian Murton, Peter Pirie, and Murray Chapman. Thank you for believing that I could do it; for your editorial help and for sharing your intellectual expertise for my chapters especially during the final revision. My special thanks to Mary McDonald, who coined the term “reciprocity-based societies” that I use in this study. My advisor, Murray Chapman, has been a constant source of inspiration throughout this project and especially during my ‘extended time in the field’. Thank you for bringing me initially to UH-Manoa and for refusing to give up on me. I leave UH a iv better island woman because of your love for and unquestioned commitment to Oceania and its people. Mahalo nui loa, Murray! The Department of Geography at the University of Auckland welcomed me as their own in 2003 and gave office space during my time in Auckland. Thank you especially to Professors Warren Moran and Willie Smith, to Lindsey Blue and Gale Arnold, and to Drs Yvonne Underhill-Sem, Ward Friesen, Nick Lewis and Gordon Winder for their encouragement and advice. Yvonne Underhill-Sem gave much needed guidance on the structuring of my chapters and edited my first draft. Mahalo, friend, for your enthusiastic support and for the many ‘flat white’ sessions! Dr Sa’ilau Sua’alii-Sauni was a constant source of strength. Faafetai Uso, for the talanoa and eating sessions that always brightened up my days. I also extend my thanks to many friends who supported me at various stages of this study. To those in Hawai’i: Tina Tauasosi-Posiulai, Fata Simanu-Klutz, Sa’iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor, thank you for your unfailing love. To Bruce Linquist, Masami Tsujita, Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, Ponipate Rokolekutu and Fotu Va’ai, mahalo for your support. To my colleagues and friends in Samoa: Leatuaolevao Ruby Va’a, Cecilia Leaupepe, Elena Peteru, Riteta Laulala, Seulgee Samuelu, Angie Alama, Momoe Malietoe Von Riche, Senira Su’a, Rasela Seiuli, Lloyd Duane, Nelle Faimalo, Emma Kruse Va’ai, Maria Kerslake, Juliet Boon-Nanai, Susana Taua’a, thank you for your friendship and encouragement. To Tolu Muliaina and Eberhard Weber of USP Suva, and v Sela Taufa and David Hagerty of ANU Canberra, many thanks for the encouraging emails that always lifted my spirit. To my family in Samoa and in Auckland, faafetai tele lava. To my mother, Losi Liki, faafetai mo au tatalo ma lou alofa faamaoni mo a’u ma si a’u fanau. Ou te alofa tele mo oe. Thank you also to my sisters and brothers and their families: Tufaina and Mike Revell, Uaina and Sandra Liki, Fa’afetai and Taua’i Malu, Fa’amanu and Charlie Smith, Kitiona and Julie Liki, Malavai and Samasoni Alama, and Judy and Daniel Lewis. Thank you for your love that warmly cocooned me whenever I visited your homes. Ou te alofa tele mo outou. To my cousins, Sene Ekueta and Leitu Letoa, thank you for your invaluable help with my children during my many absences from home. I can never repay you enough. To my husband, Harry, thank you for encouraging me to finish this project. To my children Tauati, Liki, and Murray, you are my angels! The joy that you bring to my life drove me to complete this dissertation. I love you. vi ABSTRACT This dissertation examines ways of thinking in population geography, with specific reference to work and movement among Teine uli, the Melanesian-Samoan women in Samoa and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Dominant thinking in Pacific population research is clearly that which also prevails in the subfield of population geography. Empiricist analyses that reflect dualistic thinking on place and culture gloss over the culturally- rooted experiences of island women in particular and islanders in general. Informed by Samoan cultural thinking, I argue that alternative ways of understanding work and movement would help population geographers better comprehend the dynamics of these processes in reciprocity-based societies. The central question in this study is: how do women from reciprocity-based societies in general conceive of their work and movement? The desire behind this question is to address meanings that are marginalized, overlooked, and ignored in population-related scholarship. Drawing parallels with humanist and feminist approaches in geography, this study examines the cultural meanings and experiences that constitute the lived experiences of Teine uli. Appreciating experiences as complex and flexible, a multi- method approach is used to integrate standard techniques in population enquiry (field census, life history matrix) and ethnographic insights (participant observation, indepth interviews, personal stories). Adopting a range of methods in the field, in Samoa and in Auckland, New Zealand, enhances the capacity to provide new insights in the analysis of work and movement. vii In and of itself, the multimethod approach does not inevitably provide new ways of thinking about these processes. This dissertation takes aiga (family) as the intellectual and philosophical point of reference. Within this are embedded the concepts of va fealoaloa’i (social space between people) and fa’alavelave (family and cultural events), because they incorporate the sociocultural, spatial, and economic meanings of work and movement valued in reciprocity-based places. It argues for a more radical, deliberate, and genuine shift of scholarly thinking about the cultural world of island women as a way to broaden our search for knowledge and for a more sensitive kind of population geography. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgment ……………………………………………………………. iv Abstract ………………………………………………………………………… vii List of Maps …………………………………………………………………… xii List of Figures ………………………………………………………………….. xiii List of Tables …………………………………………………………………… xiv Glossary of Samoan Words …………………………………………………….. xv Chapter 1 RETHINKING WORK AND MOVEMENT IN THE PACIFIC …. 1 Research questions and frame …………………………………………………… 1 Charting alternative routes: meanings and histories ……………………………. 6 Tama uli and Teine uli: shadows in the background ……………………………… 9 Tama uli and Teine uli of post-independence Samoa ……………………………. 21 The current study: journeys beyond the plantation ………………………………. 30 Outline of chapters ………………………………………………………………. 37 Chapter 2 WEAVING PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN’S WORK AND MOVEMENT ................................................................................ 40 Beginning the ‘weaving’ process: working with missing links …………………… 41 Identifying my ‘weaving’ pattern: humanist and feminist parallels ……………… 43 Working with terms ……………………………………………………………….. 44 ‘Weaving’ in progress: gaps and links ……………………………………………. 45 Missing women, migration and population geography …………………… 45 Missing women and migration in the Pacific …………………………….. 48 Missing women and colonial history …………………………………….. 54 Missing ‘working’ women ………………………………………………… 58 Methodological conjunctions of feminist and humanist approaches …………….. 61 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….. 67 Chapter 3 ‘AIGA AS CONTEXT: AN ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR WORK AND MOVEMENT ……………………………….. 69 Tino o le ‘aiga: defining the Samoan self …………………………………………. 70 Fa’asamoa and fa’asinomaga (identity) ……………………...…………………… 73 Va fealoaloa’i : centrality of relationships …………….………………….. 75 Misconceptions of ‘aiga ………………………………………………….. 79 Change and continuity …………………………………………………………….. 82 Placing movement in ‘aiga ……………………………………………………….. 86 Fa’alavelave: the hub of movement ………………...……………………. 87 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………… 96 ix Chpater 4 EXPERIENCING THE ‘FIELD’: WANDERING A SLIPPERY PATH TO KNOWLEDGE ………………………………………... 98 Situating myself ………………………………………………………………… 100 Archival ‘wanderings’: attempting to trace roots ………………………………….. 106 ‘Wanderings’ for appropriate concepts …………………………………………… 108 Field census: counting ‘aiga ………………………………………………………. 110 Census information analysis ……………………………………………… 112 ‘Wanderings’ through the unexpected …………………………………………. 115 ‘Wanderings’ through words, stories and meanings ………………………………. 117 Doing interviews …………………………………………………………. 119 Analysis of interview