Penelope Schoeffel: Daughters of Sina: A study of Gender, Status and Power in Western Samoa (1979)

The enquiry into Samoan notions of gender, status and power below, is offered by Penelope Schoeffel. It is a Doctoral thesis that explores two female status groups (the sacred sisters and the secular wives) within in Samoan society. It was submitted in 1979, to Australian National University.

Daughters of Sina: A study of Gender, Status and Power in Western Samoa

Abstract:

The dyadic structure of Samoan society is based upon a concept of power comprising two complementary aspects; sacred and secular. These divisions operate as fundamental ordering principles in society. Power, in the sense of the ability to exert moral suasion and authority, is perceived as the combination of secular action and sacred legitimation. This duality derives from beliefs about the origin of society; that sacred power originated through matrilineal descent lines from the creator deity to dignify secular power, and is maintained through a predominately patrilineal mode of inheritance.

Thus the focal dyad is the kinship of a sister and brother, and a number of other important dyadic relationships are metaphorically derived from it. The division of power into two aspects does not focus, symbolically or otherwise, upon male and female, but upon an opposition of qualities ascribed to particular statuses. Samoan females have two distinct statuses which are usually held simultaneously but exercised in different contexts. As sisters this status is sacred relative to the secular status of their brothers. As wives their status is secular relative to the sacred status of their husband’s descent group and is also derived from the status of their husband in that descent group. Similarly the designation of male statuses as sacred or secular is contextually defined, according to the rank and status of a title or descent group, and by categories of kinship with respect to a descent group on the basis of ancestral cross-sex siblingship. Since 1830, Christianity has eroded aspects of Samoan social structure and, together with the new avenues for acquiring wealth and prestige, has blurred many of the fundamental distinctions on which the complementarity of secular and secular power rest.

Despite change and modification, the traditional concept of power is still reflected in kinship and village institutions. One of the most interesting manifestations of change and continuity is the introduction of village womens committees since the 1920s. These have adopted a tripartite structure which maintains distinctions between the wives of titled and untitled men, but more importantly, maintains the distinction between sisters and wives in the context of the local community. This distinction supports a complementarity between sacred and secular aspects of power, as exercised collectively by the two female status groups within a institutional framework.

The persistence of patterns of belief, action and social institutions, even after the ancient religious ideology which justified them has been formally abandoned, is illustrated by the way in which an innovation such as the Western Samoan village womens committee has developed. This evidence has particularly significant implications for planned change and economic development in small-scale societies.

The Potential of Vā

“An investigation of how ‘Ie Tōga activate the spatial relationships of the Vā, for a Samoan Diaspora community“

1.0 Abstract

The Vā is our past, present, and future. As much as we might want to de ne the Vā – it certainly de nes us. It does not appear as a physical form. It is never vacant. The Vā connects us all through our relationships as a space that always already exists, whether we think about it or not, and even when we feel discon- nected. It appears most strongly when we meet and practice Samoan ceremo- nial exchange.

The Samoan dictionary de nes Vā as “separated, be divided, estranged – on bad terms, space, distance between, and relationship” (Milner, 2003). For my thesis, Vā is a relational space whose potential for the creation of spaces of display I will test. My project seeks to discover ways of creating communities, which nurture fa’asamoa (Samoan ways) in the diaspora. The Vā has the po- tential to create spaces of display – not necessarily lasting buildings: in Samo- an culture, and Oceanic culture more generally, “space is indissolubly linked to time” (Tcherkézoff, 2008, p. 136). It is in these contexts that the project seeks to discover ways of creating communities, nurturing fa’asamoa, Samoan ways, in the diaspora.

The project examines the associations and ancestral connections of ‘Ie Tōga (Samoan ne mats) within their communities. It explores the relationships created through the exchange of historical ‘Ie Tōga, making visible their place in the Vā and how they activate it by presenting to us our past, present, and future. The design proposal is the creation of a space of display arising from the processes of Lalaga (weaving) and Lalava (according to Albert Reftiti in personal communication (2010), “stirring the Vā” is a literal translation of, Lala-Vā, lashing). In this case, the combination lead to a stirring and re- connecting of the relationships within diasporic space. The thesis will test the potential of Vā through various methods of experimentation, such as archival research, participation, documentation of images and mapping.

Benita Sharon Simati Kumar.

Masters of Art and Design. 2011. Primary Supervisor:

Dr. Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul

MY ANALYSIS: H O M E I N V A S I O N

My journey through the gallery spaces: was based on the thought process and idea of walking through a “Home”. Though the idea of home and gallery may differ to its intent. Somehow I see similarity, my “Home” is obviously not a gallery space, but the living room maybe held for the intent of display, the only space where people can actually have free accessibility as its the only area we keep “clean” or gather. The Living room, where formal and casual conversations occur, a place that comes first before the other rooms.

The moral or custom tradition that is outplayed within the living room, is to take off your shoes at the door, why? well who wants dirty footprints on a clean carpet? also its a familiar gesture we all share? But why? shoes are for outdoors, the entrance, the door is a threshold. which separates the intent of what outside is suppose to be and the inside as well. The key elements of the Living Room: display the resonances the gallery 1 and 2 had, reminded me of my “island home” (Edith Amituanais “What it means to make a home”). The consistent displays of tv and the hanging sheets of historical and cultural context was very interesting, the idea of bringing home into home.

Precendent:

“Edith Amituanai’s photographs reflect her ongoing fascination with what it means to make a home”

https://edithamituanai.com/INTERIORS-ANCHORAGE-APIA-AKL

EDITH AMITUANAI

” Edith’s process of constructing images could be considered anthropological studies. Her practice questions how notions of home migrate from one place to another, as well as from one generation to the next. Domestic interiors in particular feature as transitional sites; places where occupants gather together select objects of varied cultural significance.”

Stories of migration are prominent in Edith’s work. Edith travelled to Europe to photograph Samoan rugby players living in Italy and France. Her resulting series, Dejeuner, includes portraits of the young sportsmen on the rugby field along with photographs of the family homes the players have left behind. Together, these images tell the two sides of migration; those who seek better lives in foreign lands, and those who stay behind. The interiors, in particular, emanate a sense of longing. The House of Tiatia, 2007, for instance, is brim with objects that evoke an absent son: a framed rugby jersey, casually hung medals and club photographs lined up in a row stand in his place. 

http://www.tatai.org/artist/edith-amituanai