Mavae and Tofiga Spatial Exposition of the Samoan Cosmogony and Architecture Albert L. Refiti A thesis submitted to� The Auckland University of Technology �In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Art & Design� Faculty of Design & Creative Technologies 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... i Attestation of Authorship ...................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... vi Dedication ............................................................................................................................ viii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ix Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Leai ni tusiga ata: There are to be no drawings ............................................................. 1 2. Tautuanaga: Rememberance and service ....................................................................... 4 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 Spacing ................................................................................................................................... 6 Rationale of the Study ............................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 1: Lau tofiga lea. Vā and the contemporary understanding of space as identity .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Vā: contemporary theorising of identity and space in the diaspora .................................... 13 Being-social: the context in which the vā has to embed itself .............................................. 18 Vā and the ‘body becoming’: new subjectivities in the diaspora ......................................... 23 Chapter 2: Teuga and methods ............................................................................................ 26 Mātau: Making and manipulating Samoan concepts ......................................................... 27 Exchanging perspectives: “ritual manipulation of the foreign” .......................................... 28 Spatial exposition and “cosmological perspectivism” ......................................................... 34 Su’ifefiloi: the process of patching and the nature of parts .................................................. 38 Assemblage: Materials and parts ......................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3: Tupu’aga and Cosmogenesis ............................................................................. 45 Mythistories ......................................................................................................................... 47 The creation story of Samoa and Manu’a ............................................................................ 51 Solo o le Vā and the Samoan cosmogony ............................................................................. 54 The Diagram as Cosmogram ............................................................................................... 56 The narrative and analysis of the Samoan Cosmogony ....................................................... 60 i 0. Tagaloa and Vānimonimo: Limitless ............................................................................... 60 1. Papa: Beginnings ............................................................................................................. 62 1a. Mavae 1 and Fanau: Becoming 64 1b. Mavae 2: Orientations 65 1c.- 1e. [Spatial and temporal qualities] 66 2. Tofiga 1: World forming .................................................................................................. 67 3. Lagi: Nine-fold world ....................................................................................................... 68 4. Tofiga 2: Emergence of the ancestor gods ........................................................................ 72 5. Mavae 3: From worms to humans ................................................................................... 74 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 4: Cosmic emplacements ....................................................................................... 77 Cosmic emplacement and nofoaga ....................................................................................... 77 Emanation of mana and its spatial qualities ........................................................................ 82 Papa and the genealogy of tagata ......................................................................................... 88 Papa and matter ................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 5: The spatial exposition and structural implication of mavae and tofiga ....... 94 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 94 Openings and divisions: tofi and nu’u ................................................................................ 94 Mavae and fua’iala: connecting outwards ........................................................................... 96 Ala and passages ................................................................................................................ 100 Ala, facets and traits .......................................................................................................... 102 Samoan personhood ........................................................................................................... 102 Partial lines ........................................................................................................................ 106 Loops and brocades ............................................................................................................ 109 Branches and threads ......................................................................................................... 113 Fua’iala as order and separation ........................................................................................ 113 Fa’alupega .......................................................................................................................... 119 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 122 Chapter 6: Residency and occupation .............................................................................. 123 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 123 Nofo mau: to reside ............................................................................................................ 124 ii Tulaga fale and paepae: marking residency and making an altar ...................................... 125 Loops and knots: forms of congregation ............................................................................. 128 Charged space: vā, fono and malae .................................................................................... 129 District and national lines ................................................................................................. 133 From mythology to planes, peaks and territories ............................................................... 137 Chapter 7: The Tufuga-fau-fale and building technology ............................................. 139 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 139 The archaeology of a technological culture and the coming of the Tufuga guild .............. 140 First Lapita Settlement of Samoa ca.700 BC ..................................................................... 141 Second settlement ca.300 AD ............................................................................................ 143 Ancestral Polynesian Society technology .......................................................................... 144 Pre-historical settlement pattern ....................................................................................... 150 Technological structure and the Tufuga ............................................................................ 154 The operational sequence and gestures for creating a faletele ............................................ 157 Fale construction sequence ................................................................................................ 164 Tools and measurements .................................................................................................... 166 Material technology ........................................................................................................... 167 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................