Kanemasu, Yoko and Chan-Tung, Asenati (2023) Weaving “Culture” and Political Advocacy in a Small Island Nation: Samoa Fa’afafine Association and Non - Heteronormative Samoans. In: Handbook of Civil Society and Social Movements in Small States. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 9781032377148
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In the Pacific Island nation of Samoa, a powerful discourse of cultural tradition, along with religion, is frequently mobilized in the denunciation of non-heteronormativity. Yet Samoa is also known for fa’afafine (literally meaning ‘in the manner of a woman’), namely persons assigned male at birth whose gendered behaviours are feminine to varying degrees, often with a sexual/romantic orientation towards masculine men. Indeed, fa’afafine are a highly visible social group and it is commonly claimed that they are shielded from the stigmatization experienced by non-heteronormative persons in many other cultures. Since 2006, the Samoa Fa’afafine Association (SFA) has served as the primary advocacy body for fa’afafine, and more recently also for fa’afatama, namely Samoans assigned female at birth but who identify as men or act ‘in the manner of a man’. Based on 25 semi-structured interviews with SFA members/officials and other stakeholders, this chapter explores the strategies that the SFA has historically employed to negotiate fa’afafine’s positioning within local communities and to cultivate their cultural legitimacy while also engaging effectively with civil society organization activism. The findings illuminate how SFA has successfully appropriated key elements of both fa’asamoa (the Samoan way of life) and modern human rights advocacy under culturally embedded ‘shared leadership’.
| Item Type: | Book Chapter |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
| Divisions: | School of Law and Social Sciences (SoLaSS) |
| Depositing User: | Yoko Kanemasu |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2023 23:35 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2023 23:35 |
| URI: | https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/14105 |
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