Land rights and empowerment of urban women, fa’afafine and fakaleitī in Samoa and Tonga Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo A thesis submitted to the Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2017 Faculty of Culture and Society Primary Supervisor: Professor Marilyn J. Waring Secondary Supervisor: Professor Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop Table of Contents List of Tables and Graphs ............................................................................................... i Attestation of Authorship .............................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... x Abstract .......................................................................................................................... xii Chapter I: Rationale and Significance of the Study .................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 2.0 Background ................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Why is land important to Pacific Peoples? ......................................................................... 3 2.2 Effect of Urbanisation and Land Needs .............................................................................. 5 2.3 Vulnerabilities of Urban Women and Female Headed Households ................................... 6 2.4 Land Ownership and Women’s Empowerment .................................................................. 8 3.0 Study Design ............................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Samoa - Have rights to customary land been identified as a concern for women or fa’afafine in Samoa? ............................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Tonga - Have rights to land been identified as a concern for women or fakaleitī in Tonga? ................................................................................................................................................ 12 3.3 Out of Scope ..................................................................................................................... 13 3.5 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 14 3.6 Methods............................................................................................................................. 15 4.0 Research Contribution ............................................................................................... 16 5.0 Chapters Overview .................................................................................................... 16 6.0 Clarifications and Commonly Used Terms ............................................................... 18 7.0 Summary ................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter II: Literature Review ..................................................................................... 21 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 21 2.0 Land Rights ............................................................................................................... 21 2.1 Bundle of Rights ............................................................................................................... 21 2.2 John Locke ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.3 Terra Nullius ..................................................................................................................... 24 3.0 Land Grabs and Development in the Pacific............................................................. 25 4.0 Global Picture on Urban Women’s Land Rights ...................................................... 28 5.0 Land Reforms to Support Urban Women’s Land Access ......................................... 31 6.0 Urbanisation .............................................................................................................. 32 i 7.0 Land Ownership and Women’s Empowerment Against Male Violence .................. 34 8.0 Sexuality and Land Rights ........................................................................................ 38 9.0 Religious Institutions and Land Tenure .................................................................... 41 10.0 Summary ................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter III: Customary Land Tenure in the Pacific ................................................. 44 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 44 2.0 Concept of Customary Ownership ............................................................................ 44 3.0 What is the Meaning of Customary Land to Pacific Women?.................................. 46 4.0 Development Imperatives and Challenges in Pacific Urban Towns ......................... 49 4.1 Land Registration .............................................................................................................. 49 4.2 Land Availability .............................................................................................................. 51 4.3 Land Leasing ..................................................................................................................... 52 5.0 Processes to Access Land Under Custom ................................................................. 53 5.1 Succession and Inheritance ............................................................................................... 54 5.2 Chiefly Authority .............................................................................................................. 54 5.3 Speaking Rights and Representation ................................................................................. 55 5.4 Residence and Service ...................................................................................................... 56 5.5 Statutory Mechanisms ....................................................................................................... 57 6.0 Leading Models of Customary Tenure ..................................................................... 58 7.0 Summary ................................................................................................................... 60 Chapter IV: Research Design ...................................................................................... 61 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 61 2.0 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 62 2.1 Gender ............................................................................................................................... 62 2.1.1 Critical Feminist Methodology .................................................................................. 63 2.1.2 Queer Theory - considered ......................................................................................... 65 2.2 Pacific Indigenous Methodologies .................................................................................... 66 2.2.1 Talanoa – considered ................................................................................................. 68 2.2.2 Teu le va - considered ................................................................................................ 70 2.2.3 Comparisons and Commonalities Between Indigenous Methodologies .................... 71 3.0 Preparation for Engagement ...................................................................................... 75 3.1 Insider Preparation for Samoa........................................................................................... 76 3.2 Outsider Preparation for Tonga......................................................................................... 77 3.3 Preparation for Fa’afafine and Fakaleitī .......................................................................... 78 3.4 Preparation for Women ..................................................................................................... 78 ii 3.5 Participant Recruitment .................................................................................................... 79 4.0 Participant Profile...................................................................................................... 80 5.0 Methods ..................................................................................................................... 81 5.1 Face to Face Semi Structured Interview ........................................................................... 82 5.2 Focus Groups .................................................................................................................... 84 5.3 Observations ..................................................................................................................... 86 5.4 Secondary