Titular disputes and national leadership in Samoa
Abstract The political history of Samoa is principally a contest about matai (titled family head) titles. The significance of matai titles lies in the appurtenant land to which is tied the welfare of most Samoans. The contest for titles translates into the struggle for security of rights and access to land and resources. Four ancient and sacred titles called pāapā stood at the apex of Samoan society and an elite group of orators called tumua ma pule managed the complex political contest. Successful accession to all four titles was rare and contending parties usually spent a good deal of their lifetime in the struggle maintaining this largely ceremonial status. The most eligible contenders came from the Sā Tupuā family and were joined in the early 19th century by the Sā Malietoā family. The title disputes caused endless disruptions and the colonial administrations eventually abolished the titles. But they could not be swept away because the titles provided an ideological superstructure which glued the majo...
Rank, gender and politics in ancient Samoa: The genealogy of Salamāsina O Le Tafaifā
a new focus of rank came into being, and that through a series of female ances tral connexions of such crucial importance that the names of those ancestresses became paramount chiefly titles a young woman, Salamasina, was given highest office in the western islands of Samoa. The supreme titles which Salamasina held were passed on to her chiefly descendants primarily through the daughters of her illegitimate first-born daughter by a low ranking man. Despite these well remembered facts of Samoa's ancient history, Samoa has been described as a male dominated society with laws of inheritance based on 'agnation' or patrilineal succession.1 At least two European scholars have failed to realize Salamasina's sex. Pratt and Ella refer to her as the 'son' of Tui A'ana Tamalelagi, and Shore makes a similar error by referring to Fofoaivao'ese, the daughter of Salamasina, as 'her illegitimate son'.2 The case of Salamasina is unusual since titles and offices associated with formal
Continents of Liberty: Emerson and Gerald Vizenor’s Chair of Tears
Ralph Waldo Emerson protested what came to be known as the Trail of Tears in a public letter to President Martin Van Buren in 1838. Th e Cherokee Nation, he argued, had been cheated by a “sham treaty” (Emerson, “Letter” 50), the will of the people ignored, and a false acquiescence to removal written into law. In making a passionate appeal to the highest “chair” of the land, Emerson underscored the great political and moral stakes involved: