Womens Studies Association Conference 2001
A Snapshot of Daughters of the Pacific
Presenters: Maria, Lesa, Robyn, Orleana.
Introduction
Kia orana, Fakaalofa atu. My name is Maria. Welcome to our session
today - A Snapshot of Daughters of the Pacific.
Daughters of the Pacific introduce themselves.
To most people of the world, we …who are called Pacific Islanders
… are not real. We are thought of romantically … by the Western
world … with images of beautiful women thinly clad in cloth with
hibiscus patterns, flowers in our hair, hips swaying under the coconut
palm trees, beckoning the Western world into a world of magic and romance.
Our traditions and cultures are thought of as entertainment, some seventh
wonder of the world, as a show to visit and see, but for the most part
to be left on the storybook shelves, or in the natural history section
of the museums of the world, alongside the fossils, the dinosaurs and
other dead things.
"WE are alive, equipped by the Gods and Goddesses to share with
you once again that piece of the puzzle which is uniquely ours, by virtue
of our unique history and the gifts that have evolved from our unique
experiences of tradition and culture." (source: Daughters of
the Pacific -Zohl de Ishtar).
So sit back and relax, here we go …
Maria
Quotes from well-known Pacific Islanders.
Makerita Urale
"We all got new clothes for the trip. We each got a pair
of pyjamas that our Aunty had made. Mine was blue floral, and a pair
of clip on shoes. We practised wearing them the day before, and I remember
dragging my feet on the ground, so they wouldn't fall off."
Samson Samasoni
"I've heard some really tragic arrival stories. One person
landed at Mangere airport, then took a taxi to Wellington. He had no
idea of the distance, and the taxi driver didn't say anything to put
him right. The family he was going to couldn't do anything but pay the
fare."
Ete Etuati
"When we got here, the congregation put on a reception
for my father, the Reverend Risatisone Ete, and our family. At the time
taro was scarce and expensive, so they came and told us kids,' please
dont eat the taro. Leave that for the adults, and you eat the potatoes.'
We'd seen the potatoes and thought Yum. In Samoa, potatoes were a treat,
and we couldn't believe our luck. We were in the land of the potatoes!"
Louisa Crawley
"I used to love getting my letters from home. Id read them
out loud under a tree, walking back and forth, just thoroughly enjoying
the sound of my language. The teachers thought I was nuts."
Sunia Raitava
"In those days everyone wore suits and hats, even to work
in the factories. I used to wear my bula shirt. We used to buy our clothes
in the second hand shops. I used to be pretty shy, always giggling and
keeping my head down. But when somebody would say 'hello or kiaora',
I always said 'bula.' They thought I was African."
Makerita Urale
"A lot of people have found out that the grass isn't always
greener on the other side and are going back. When I went back I told
them. 'If you don't have money in New Zealand, you dont eat, you starve.
Its not like in the Islands where you can get food from the plantation
and the sea. Here, if you don't have money you die."
Albert Wendt
In his novel Sons for the return home.
"During the mans first four weeks in the factory he worked at odd
jobs swept floors, helped out in the cafeteria, and oiled machines.
He was afraid in the factory. Caught up in the noise and the overwhelming
size of the building, the intricate system of machines and conveyor
belts and cables, the large number of worker whose language he didn't
understand, he felt small and lost. He felt safe only at morning tea
time and in the lunch hour when he was with the other Samoan workers."
Taito Phillip Field
"I've tried very hard to adjust to the European world.
I did that at primary and secondary school. By the time I got to tertiary
level, I discovered I couldn't communicate with Samoans any more. I
started to feel I was an outsider again. I had to relearn Samoan."
(Source: Mana - The Maori news magazine for all New Zealanders
No 10 Spring 1995 - When hula meets Haka.)
Daughters of the Pacific read extracts from Daughters stories (refer
to Our Stories page).
Lesa
This is an extract from an essay for a Victoria University
paper on Samoan Society and Culture (1998). While this essay is my own
work, I must acknowledge the following academics and visionaries for
their influence on my thoughts - Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin, Melanie
Anae, Jemima Tiatia, Paul Spoonley, Feiloaiga Janette Taulealeausumai,
Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa, Kiwi Tamasese, Paula Masoe-Clifford and Sui
Neemia-Garwood.
'Being a NZ-Born Samoan: A Search for Validation''
The Pacific Islander Label
It has been said that we New Zealand born have our images of
ourselves influenced by others through the persistent use of labels
and stereotypes. The use of the term 'Pacific Islander' is particularly
pervasive, constructed by "explorers, European colonisers, later
anthropologists and archaeologists, and now Western bureaucrats, policy-makers,
and Pacific elites". This label creates confusion in that strictly
speaking all of us, regardless of our ethnicity or cultural heritage,
who live on an island in the Pacific are a Pacific Islander. This is
clearly not the colloquial meaning of the term here in New Zealand.
The term is a way of classifying a number of ethnic minorities and as
such bringing them together so that New Zealand society can find it
easier to deal with them. What this does instead is to deny our diversity
when "we are unique, we are different, - we are not a minority
in this our mother region - the Pacific".
It has also been suggested that the label Pacific Islander can confuse
New Zealand borns in to aligning themselves with New Zealand borns from
other Pacific Islands ahead of their own parents and Island born aiga.
The Role of the Media
The media, apart from reflecting other Palagi institutions,
has a far more major role to play in the way that we see ourselves and
the way that the rest of New Zealand society views us because it mediates
understanding and information. Many New Zealanders rely on the media
for information which is a substitute for real experience of a range
of issues.
In the not too distant past, Pacific Islanders have been depicted as
criminals and freeloaders by the unbalanced and sensational reporting
of such crimes as child abuse and overstaying. For example, in the mid
1970s the Government introduced a campaign to deal with overstaying
which was reported in the media. Thus the stereotype of Pacific Islanders
as overstayers was born and perpetuated. Even though the Pacific Island
overstayer problem was greatly exaggerated i.e. a 1986 Race Relations
Conciliators report found that while Pacific Island overstaying constituted
33% of all overstaying and 86% of prosecutions, overstayers from the
United Kingdom and United States comprised 31% of all overstaying but
only 5% of those prosecuted, the negative stereotype of Pacific Islanders
as overstayers endured. This has affected how we are seen by others
and ourselves - the tenacity of the stereotype has resulted in some
New Zealand born denying their Samoan, Cook Island or Tongan heritage.
The NZ Born Label
As with the Pacific Islander label the term New Zealand born
is loaded with stereotypes. Many Samoan born understand the term as
signifying one who is a fiaPalagi one who is monolingual and monocultural
or one who is a Samoan losing their culture. These views serve to require
many of us New Zealand born to self-identify as such as a form of apology
for not being a 'real' Samoan whether it be for not being able to speak
Samoan well enough or not looking enough like a Samoan.
It has been said that being New Zealand born is a unique identity. It
has also been said that those who are New Zealand born are a subculture
within Fa'asamoa in terms of socialisation factors such as language
and education which sets them apart from those Samoan born but in terms
of attitudes, values and identification of oneself as a Samoan that
New Zealand born are not a subculture of Fa'asamoa nor within New Zealand
society.
However, most non-Samoan New Zealanders would not understand the differences
and just think that we are all islanders.
What is a New Zealand Born Samoan?
Being a New Zealand born Samoan living in New Zealand is not
easy to define. We all have differing perspectives and experiences.
Likewise we have differing capacities to and interest in participating
in Fa'asamoa as it exists in New Zealand. I understand being New Zealand
born as a continuum upon which we all have a place. I see one end of
the continuum as a New Zealand born who is unable to access their Samoan
heritage whether it be due to an inability to participate because they
are physically dislocated from their biological parents and aiga or
because they choose to deny everything about Fa'asamoa and being Samoan.
At the other end of the continuum is a New Zealand born who is fully
conversant in and actively participates in all aspects of Fa'asamoa
here in New Zealand. Our position on this continuum is determined by
a number of factors.
Continuum of experiences
Initially our position on this continuum is determined by our
parents. Some Samoan parents instil in their children a strong sense
of Fa'asamoa and equip them with the necessary skills to participate
appropriately. Unfortunately too many Samoan parents did not do this
instead believing that understanding oneself as a Samoan was not as
important as having the requisite skills to be ready for the Palagi
world and others probably thought that they will automatically know
the language by being born Samoan. Clearly it is not that easy. A childs
early life shapes their view of the world and how they see themselves
fitting in to that world.
Other factors that determine a New Zealand born's place on this continuum
are whether they have any aiga living close by; whether there is a significant
Samoan community and church in their neighbourhood and how much contact
they have with their aiga back in Samoa - do they return periodically
or support the aiga with remittances? Some consider that for Samoans
living away from Samoa, there is a strong sense of identity and desire
to belong and sending money to Samoa is an essential part of reinforcing
those ties. However, this can also be a source of pressure and frustration
especially when money is limited. Choices have to be made between fulfilling
family obligations or personal commitments. This tension can be acutely
felt by those New Zealand born, many of us who do not fully appreciate
the significance of Fa'alavelave.
Another factor determining a New Zealand born's place on this continuum
is their participation in Fa'asamoa as it is in New Zealand i.e. does
the individual attend church and associated activities and have skills
in Samoan language? The church has a very important role in New Zealand
providing a vehicle for accessing and practising Fa'asamoa as the church
has become the mirror image of village life in Samoa and the place that
New Zealand born can realise their Samoan identity. A New Zealand born's
ability to participate fully in this will be hampered by a limited or
lack of knowledge of Samoan language or if they little personal interest
and commitment to learning.
Dislocation from parents/ Samoan aiga
There will always be some dislocation from ones parents and
Samoan aiga by virtue of the barriers of geography and generation. A
defining feature of the generational barrier between a young adult and
their parents is that education provides the means for critically evaluating
the world we live in, for understanding and attempting to eliminate
social injustices such as racism and sexism, and for enabling us to
critique our own culture and its importance to us.
However, the true extent of our dislocation from our parents and Samoan
aiga depends on our place on the continuum of being New Zealand born.
What is important is that the continuum is fluid. We all have the ability
to decide where our place will be as New Zealand born Samoans regardless
of the place that was fashioned for us by our parents. It's a journey
I am on.
The Search for Validation
It has been said that gaining a secured identity is achieved
through a process of crisis (exploration of alternatives during which
identity confusion is experienced) followed by commitment. For some
of us this process may take a lifetime. What is evident is that all
New Zealand born Pacific Islanders need to be accepted and validated
as Samoan, Cook Island, Tongan, Niuean etc. by their Island born aiga
and within the communities they live regardless of where they are at
in their personal journey. We all have something unique to offer in
terms of achieving better outcomes for Pacific people living in New
Zealand.
We are acutely aware that Pacific people are some of the most socially
and economically disadvantaged people in New Zealand society - we earn
less due to high numbers of us who have no qualifications and because
many of us who work have blue collar occupations; we have too many people
are unemployed and too many sole parent families; and we are also over-represented
in terms of poor health status and high crime figures.
To help combat the racism that exists in New Zealand society and to
work for the betterment of Pacific people here, we need a united front
of all Pacific people regardless of where we were born and where we
are at in terms of securing our identity or where we are at on our personal
journeys. We need to acknowledge the unique contributions we all bring
and lobby for change to ensure that Pacific people are participating
at all levels of New Zealand society.
We need to be accepted and thereby validated as Samoans, Cook Islanders,
Tongans, Niueans etc so that we can work together to achieve better
outcomes for all Pacific people here in New Zealand.
Maria
Daughters of the Pacific share family photographs, accompanied by Annie
Crummers Language and See Forever.
Lesa
OHP presentation Reference: 1996 census.
The Changing Face of Pacific People in Aotearoa
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6% total population |
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fastest growing 1986-1996 |
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NZ-born 57.8% of Pacific population |
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By 2051 - 1 in 5 will be Pacific |
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40% < 17yrs |
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12% of population by 2051 |
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60% attending Kura Kaupapa Maori in South Auckland
are Maori or Pacific |
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By 2051 - 1 in 3 will be Maori or Pacific |
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Numbers of NZ-born increasing and we will be of
different ethnic groups |
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Increasing challenges for Pacific communities and
wider NZ society |
Culture
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Culture is what holds a community together, giving
a common framework of meaning. It includes how people communicate
with each other, how we make decisions, how we structure our families
and who we think is important. It expresses our values towards
land and time and our attitudes towards work and play, good and
evil, reward and punishment |
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Culture is preserved in language, institutions,
symbols and customs and celebrated in art, music, drama, literature,
religion and social gatherings. It constitutes the collective
memory of the people and the collective heritage which will be
handed down to generations still to come |
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Like other cultures, Pacific cultures are not static |
Robyn
I share this poem I have written with you …
Here I am
Here I am
A woman now
With feelings and depth
On my journey…
Discovering the blend
Of all that I am
What do others see?
Could they ever know?
All that I am…
Theyll see my skin
And I could be a million things
From a million places…in their lives
But I am…
All that I was
All that I've felt
All that I've seen
All that I've known
And all that I've cried
Here I am.
Maria
Facilitated open forum.
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