Indigenous Protest in Colonial Sāmoa: the Mau Movements and the Response of the London Missionary Society, 1900 – 1935
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INDIGENOUS PROTEST IN COLONIAL SĀMOA: THE MAU MOVEMENTS AND THE RESPONSE OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 1900 – 1935 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY DECEMBER 2017 By Brian T. Alofaituli Dissertation Committee: David Chappell, Chairperson David Hanlon Matthew Romaniello Jeffrey Kapali Lyon Terence Wesley-Smith Copyright 2017 by Brian T. Alofaituli ii Dedicated to Taito Tusigaigoa Failautusi and Susie O’Brien Alofaituli, fa’afetai tele i lā oulua tatalo ma fa’amanuiaga. iii Acknowledgements Words are not enough to express my fa’afetai (thank you) to so many people that supported and helped me as I worked on this project. First and foremost, I want to thank my parents, Taito Failautusi and Susie O’Brien Alofaituli, my siblings, Kaisalina, Gwen, and Kip for their prayers and encouragement during this very long journey. Your support from day one has given me the strength and confidence to achieve this Ph.D. To my extended family, fa’afetai tele lava mo talosaga (thank you for your endless prayers). Many family members have passed on to heaven. I hope and pray that you are all mimita (proud). To the many clergymen and their wives from the Congregational Christian Church of American Sāmoa, thank you. I would like to thank my dissertation committee members Dr. David A. Chappell, Dr. David Hanlon, Dr. Terence Wesley-Smith, Dr. Matthew P. Romaniello, and Dr. Jeffrey K. Lyon for your feedback and support. In particular, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. David Chappell for your patience, support, and encouragement as I worked through multiple drafts to fine-tune my argument. Your invaluable input has allowed me to grow as a better scholar, writer, and historian. I am grateful! To the faculty and staff at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of History and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, and teachers throughout my academic journey, thank you for your contributions, guidance, and encouragement. Thank you to my friends and colleagues who have inspired and motivated me through this Ph.D. journey: ‘Aumua Mata’itusi Simanu, Dr. Tina Tauasosi-Posiulai, Dr. Loau Luafata Simanu-Klutz, Dr. Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, Dr. Ponipate Rokolekutu, Dr. James Viernes and many others. Our many talanoa sessions around the tanoa has always been the place to practice Pacific traditions and talk politics. Fa’afetai tele lava and vinaka vakalevu! iv Thank you to the many institutions and people that helped financially support my education and archival research abroad. Thank you to the following organizations: East-West Graduate Degree Fellowship at the East-West Center, Sāmoan Congregational Christian Church in Carson, CA, Congregational Christian Church of American Sāmoa, Faith C. Ai Memorial Scholarship Fund, John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellowship Award, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, History Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and friends, colleagues, and family. In New Zealand, thank you to the staff and librarians at the University of Auckland’s Special Collection, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Archives New Zealand. A special thank you to my friends in Wellington, Kiki and Marisa Maepu for looking after me in Aotearoa. In London, thank you to the library staff at the London Missionary Society archives (School of Oriental and African Studies) and at the British Library. In Berlin, thank you to the staff at the Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde archive. You helped me navigate through a lot of German-Sāmoan material. In Sāmoa, I would like to thank Dionne Fonoti at the National University of Sāmoa for your time and generosity. To the incredible staff at the Hawaiian and Pacific Collections of the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, thank you for your patience and assistance during my research and writing phases. Mahalo. Finally, to the elders of my extended family that called me lupe fa’alele (flying dove). You are the inspiration behind this project. Thank you, e manatua pea outou (you are always remembered). Ia fa’amanuia le Ātua ia te outou uma lava (God bless you all). v Abstract The two Sāmoan-led pro-nationalist movements, Mau a Pule and Mau, have dominated Sāmoan historiography. The word Mau represented a firm “opinion” of Sāmoans against both Germany and New Zealand’s colonial regimes. Before the two recognized movements, Sāmoan clergymen successfully protested in various maus of their own against the London Missionary Society (L.M.S.), and challenged European mission leadership, which resulted in multiple reforms and the Sāmoanization of the L.M.S. At the start of the 20th century, Sāmoans experienced a peaceful period, and had proven their potential ability to govern themselves politically, economically, and religiously. Despite Sāmoa’s move toward modernization, the L.M.S. church and colonial institutions attempted to limit agency in leadership, implement colonial policies against fa’a-sāmoa (Sāmoan customs and traditions), and disregard Sāmoa’s nonviolent attempts to instigate changes. Although intense at times, the different mau movements reflected a Christian society under the authority of titled chiefs or matai who maintained peace. The aim of this study is twofold. The first is to investigate whether a hybridity between fa’a-sāmoa and the civilizing mission by missionaries and colonizers produced a civil society within the colonial context that organized nonviolent protests to effect reforms within the foreign institutions. The second is to explore the link between the Mau movements and the L.M.S. While there has been plenty of research on the Mau movements, few studies have focused on the mau protests within the L.M.S., or their response to the Mau a Pule and Mau. This re- examination places the Sāmoan Mau movements within the wider discourse of protest studies in Oceania, and the rise of an indigenous civil society within the colonial context. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vi Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ x Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Historical Context ........................................................................................................................... 6 Purpose and Significance ................................................................................................................ 9 Literature Review .......................................................................................................................... 13 Pacific Resistance Studies ............................................................................................................. 27 Armed Protest ............................................................................................................................ 29 Cultural Protest ......................................................................................................................... 30 Economic Protest ...................................................................................................................... 31 Political Protest ......................................................................................................................... 32 Church Protest .......................................................................................................................... 34 Other Forms of Resistance and Protests ................................................................................... 34 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 35 Challenges ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Framing the Chapters .................................................................................................................... 41 Reflections .................................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 2. Sāmoa’s Cultural Context and Foreign Influence Before 1900 .......................... 46 Pre-Contact Sāmoa ........................................................................................................................ 47 Scientific Data on Sāmoan Origins ............................................................................................... 52 Sāmoa’s Social Structure .............................................................................................................. 55 Foreign Contact: Explorers, Beachcombers, and Whalers ........................................................... 63 Family Rivalry of Sā Tupuā and Sā Malietoā ............................................................................... 67 Sāmoa-Foreign Political History Before 1900 .............................................................................. 71 Reflections ...................................................................................................................................