Siva Siva Mai: SIVA SĀMOA AND SAMOAN WOMEN IN DIASPORA

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dc.contributor.advisorLaBriola, Monica C.
dc.contributor.authorSchwalger, Tess Elizabeth
dc.contributor.departmentHistory
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-09T23:45:47Z
dc.date.available2024-10-09T23:45:47Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.degreeM.A.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108667
dc.subjectHistory
dc.subjectPacific Rim studies
dc.subjectGender studies
dc.subjectDiaspora
dc.subjectFa’asāmoa
dc.subjectSamoan Women
dc.subjectTaualuga
dc.subjectTāupou
dc.subjectVā
dc.titleSiva Siva Mai: SIVA SĀMOA AND SAMOAN WOMEN IN DIASPORA
dc.typeThesis
dcterms.abstractFrom Upolu to Utah, the tāupou (highest ranking women in the Samoan village) is the embodiment of Samoan identity and holds immense power within the village. The position of tāupou in the diaspora maintains many of the same characteristics as in Sāmoa: she is an important cultural figure, a symbol of connection to Sāmoa, and an emblem of Indigenous representation and women’s power. The continuity of the taualuga (dance performed by tāupou) and the essence of the tāupou’s position is a symbol of Samoan identity in diaspora and represents the important role Samoan women play in cultivating and perpetuating fa’asāmoa. Samoan women predominantly raised in diaspora use siva (dance), particularly the construct of the tāupou through the taualuga, as an important way to nourish the vā (space between, relationships) with their community, cultural identity, and connection to Sāmoa. This intentional engagement with Samoan values and community through siva and the taualuga is invaluable, especially when Samoan women are disconnected from their ancestral lands and language. Although scholarship on Sāmoa paints only a partial picture of the tāupou and taualuga, Samoan women have carried with them this knowledge and sense of Samoan-ness for generations despite centuries of colonial oppression. To support one another in diaspora, Samoans build diasporic villages and diasporic malae (sacred, educational learning spaces traditionally located inside the village) where Samoans weave together communities and nourish vā (space/relationship) between Samoan customary land and Samoans in diaspora, in part through intentional engagement with the taualuga. Using an interdisciplinary approach that includes a mix of historiographical methods, interviews, and Indigenous knowledge systems, I further the work of a number of Pacific scholars including Sa’iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor and M. Luafata Simanu-Klutz to re-center and reclaim Indigenous narratives from colonial projections.
dcterms.extent135 pages
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.typeText
local.identifier.alturihttp://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:12277

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