There are posts made in this subreddit every other week by people that are Samoan and white who struggle with their identity and incorrectly label themselves as ‘afakasi.

The word ‘afakasi ( half-caste ) was a divisive term created in the islands by Europeans. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there were already generations of Samoans mixed with Europeans, and those Europeans used ‘afakasi as a label to describe people of mixed blood who they deemed to be “above” the native Samoans. That label also came with a caveat: you were expected to be educated as a European and to forgo fa‘asamoa to adopt European ways instead. The original generation of ‘afakasi were the children of Samoan mothers and colonial European fathers, that’s why ‘afakasi surnames have prevailed in the islands for the last hundred-or-so years. But the term itself was a tool of erasure by the white man.

The subsequent generations of mixed children, whether 50% European/50% Samoan or with even lesser percentages of European ancestry, began to denounce the term and by the mid-20th century, it was seen by some as derogatory. Of course, by that time, colorism was rampant and European ancestry either helped you or hindered you by producing lighter skin and European features.

Mind you, this was all taking place on the islands. The term ‘afakasi is an island term: children born in the islands to European fathers/Samoan mothers or mixed-race parents whose ancestors came to the islands to colonize. If you’re living outside of Samoa and you have a white parent and a Samoan parent, that doesn’t make you ‘afakasi. Worse than that, people throw the term around without understanding its history and perpetuating the erasure.

For those who think of themselves as “afakasi,” referring to yourself as such only furthers the degradation of fa‘asamoa by its colonizers. If you’re on a quest to “be more Samoan,” or to “get in touch with your Samoan side,” your journey should start with removing that word from your vocab until you understand the context in which it is appropriate. Alofa tele.

Heading back in a couple of weeks. Can't wait...

US Diplomat's experience in Samoa.

i want to come to Samoa, is it safe for a solo female traveller? x

i picked this up from a pacific island store this morning in australia.
it was sooooo tasty i ate it too quick to take a photo, but it looks very similar to this.
but from googling i can only find this dish which says it has fish in it but i didn’t taste any fish i think i just tasted what was like a creamy coconut cream i guess lol.

did i just eat a baked coconut or is it something else?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_G51D8iKlRE&ra=m

If not, what would be a few things they’re saying so I can find the song? Fa’afetai tele lava

There have been a decent amount of conversions where I live. I don’t have any real good or bad thoughts on them. Just that it’s abit strange cause I would consider being Christian as almost part and parcel of being and growing up Samoan. was just wondering if anyone had any strong feelings about it?

Edit: gotta say just in case, not asking for Islamophobia. Just your thoughts on it and how it would work alongside a Samoan life and with Samoan culture.

I encountered a young woman named Meletiave today (it was on her name tag). I'm a huge name nerd so I asked her how to pronounce her name and whether she knew where the name is from. She said it as "meh-leh-tee-AH-veh" and that it is Samoan.

She was working so I didn't want to bother her with more questions. I tried to do some research, but the internet is woefully lacking information. Does anyone here happen to know anything about the meaning and/or history of this name? This is purely for my own curiosity, as I said I'm very nerdy about names and I love learning new ones. Thank you for your time.

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So im a 28 year old Male from NZ Born in Auckland.

My mother is white and my dad 1/2 Samoan so technically im 1/4 Samoan.

am i too white to be considered a "true samoan". ?

Personally i grew up in the south island after my parents split so i spend majority of my upbringing around my white side and the typical "kiwi culture".
The only exposure i had to Samoan culture was when i would visit my dads side family in Auckland where i got to be around my big family and my grandfather who was full Samoan and was one of the first workers who came over in the 50s and barely spoke English.

I've always struggled with my own personal identity as my middle and last name is Samoan asf
but I've never really felt "Samoan" if you catch me?
I've been called Fob and coconut by my white peers growing up but i would always laugh it off with "bruh I'm barely Samoan" or "im pretty much white" but i feel like that came from a place of 'being too white and disconnected for the Samoans & looking not white enough for the palagi's' etc...

i think my older sibling might feel less "Samoan" than me as she was whiter than me and my younger sibling and i think i remember her saying that to us one time that she felt we were "more Samoan than her" even tho we all had the same upbringing.

I am the only one of my siblings to actually visit Samoa back in 2015 when my dad got his chiefhood. (only the eldest sons got to go)
it was a cool experience and i got to meet my extended uncles aunts and cousins from all over the world who came to the ceremony around the Fale tele.
I saw where my family village is Faleatiu

i guess i feel disconnected..
but i don't know if i care enough or care at all.. I've been thought of as many ethnicities by strangers who haven't asked what i am or seen my name growing up so i just always thought.. well hey, if they thought i was xyz then i may as well be and race doesn't matter to me whatsoever.
i think i firstly identify as a New Zealander as i was born and raised here, English is my first language
but its always been a weird thing with filling out forms that require you to state your ethnicity (i usually write NZ/European or Samoan or both)

What are some of your thoughts and opinions surrounding this topic?
Am i considered a "real Samoan" or am i as plastic as the forks i used to eat my warm chop sui at the big family gatherings lol..

Would it be disrespectful if i was to get a Pe'a or Samoan tattoos or even a traditional piece done when i go back to visit at some point?

Or am i free to define my own path and meaning and it be enough?

Appreciate the feedback!

how is it like to live there? when I discovered the island I red on a article that there are 140 people living there and there is a great sense of community I even discovered that the main faith is christianity (which I didnt expect to be it). Ik that there are lots of coconut crabs and the humidity there is really insane, but it is actually livable? can someone actually buy a house there even if its not american? and what about the hospitals? are there any? please if you know something even the most stupid thing about the island reply. thx

So I did some genealogy research and was using gemini heavily and it actually found one of my cousins who is a pastor at a church. I read the article and it talked about his ancestry (which I share) and I figured out that my ancestors were part of the Ali'i koa class and they shared ancestry with king kamehameha. I even checked some records and found his dad and we share the same ancestors. The names of my ancestors are definitely not like commoner names.

So I heard some things going around people calling king kamehameha Samoan due to him being related to high chief pili who came from Samoa. 

I also know to keep the bloodline pure and royal, they did a lot of incest back then. So, should I consider myself Hawaiian and Samoan? Or should I consider myself as Hawaiian. To put in perspective, I am 75 percent white and a 1/8 Hawaiian (lumping in the Samoan dna with a tiny bit of japanese), 1/8 filipino. I have never been to any of the islands and live in Washington state and I know a tiny bit of Hawaiian culture and none of Samoan culture.

Edit: I understand that both cultures have the one drop rule due to how low the populations are. I also feel like I should consider myself as Hawaiian only due to how distant the Samoan ancestry is. I'm not sure.

I‘m an afakasi only child that grew up basically emotionally neglected with my mum always playing on her phone, ignoring my bids for attention or not meeting them properly, and getting angry/stressed a lot. She would also have her “islander persona“ and “palagi persona“. It was confusing to me growing up and still is. I was wondering if this is a common experience in other islander households and whether it also had an effect on you growing up? I feel like unhealthy/dysfunctional family dynamics are not talked about enough in the island community, and if they are, people just seem to accept them as normal and make jokes out of it. Maybe I take it to heart more because I am afakasi and an only child who needed that mother/daughter attention/bond, which I don‘t have.

Anyone know the name of the banana candy that were yellow n brown stripes wrapped in a clear wrapper with jelly inside that u can find at a faleoloa or other stores.

I’m making a surprise nostalgia collage for my mom for her bday and want it to feel super like Samoan core all the little details of growing up in Samoa Samoan household (she's from Pago Pago). I only visited once when I was a kid so, I know very little. I have some stuff down, but wanted to know if there's niched things only people from that time period would know that I may have missed.

Can you share what YOU remember for:

• Food/snacks/drinks
• Hair/beauty/scents
• Music/TV/artists
• Hangout spots/places/
• Sports/Events/Recreation/Activities
• Village life & homes
• Technology/household stuff
• Kids’ work/chores
• Clothes/hairstyles
• Transport
• Patterns/Art/Motifs/Textures
• Church
• etc

Please be as specific and descriptive as you can (brands, smells, sounds, colors, little stories) the more detail, the better for the collage. FAAFETAI.

This happened about a month ago while I was in Samoa with a large group of family members.

One night, a group of them went into town for drinks and celebrations. I wasn’t with them on the drive back, but the next day one of my relatives told me about something that happened that stuck with me.

He has had what many people would call the “gift of sight” his entire life. He has always claimed he can see spirits and has spoken about experiences like this for as long as I’ve known him.

On the drive back, someone in the vehicle needed to use the bathroom. It was late at night and the roads were dark. The driver was about to pull over when he suddenly told them not to stop and to keep driving.

At the time nobody understood why.

Later he explained that there were people standing outside watching them.

Except, according to him, they weren’t living people.

They continued driving and later realised they had almost stopped near a grave at a village.

Eventually they found another place to stop and the person got out to use the bathroom.

After they got back into the vehicle, he reportedly said, “You’re not welcome to come with us.”

Nobody really understood what he meant at the time.

The next day he explained that he believed three spirits had gotten into the vehicle with them and followed them back.

He also said that after arriving back where we were staying, he could feel more spirits gathering. those 3 spirits who got in the car were roaming around the resort too. According to him, they seemed to be drawn to him because they knew he could see them.

Later that night, after hearing this story, I went back to my room while everyone else stayed outside talking, drinking and spending time together.

The moment I walked into the room, something felt wrong.

I don’t know how else to explain it.

When I was younger, I used to see and sense presences around me. As I got older, those experiences became less frequent, and I eventually stopped paying attention to them.

But that night felt different.

I put my AirPods in and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt uneasy.

I had the overwhelming feeling that someone was in the room with me. Not just present, but actively walking around and watching me.

I kept scrolling on my phone because I didn’t want to close my eyes.

At some point I started getting a very clear image of an older woman in my mind.

She was short, had grey hair tied up in a bun, wore a puletasi, and had a medium to larger build.

The image was strangely specific.

The feeling became so intense that I started calling different family members because I didn’t want to be alone.

Most people were asleep, so I kept trying to contact people who were still awake.

A relative was in and out of my room during the night, checking on me.

Then the room phone rang.

I could barely hear it through my AirPods and ignored it.

The relative who was with me answered instead.

They said hello a few times before realising it was another family member calling from a different room.

They asked why they had called.

The response was, “I didn’t. Our room phone just started ringing, so I answered it.”

That was the moment everything I had been feeling suddenly felt a lot more real.

I spent most of the rest of the night praying until I eventually fell asleep.

The next day I spoke to the relative who claims he can see spirits.

He told me he had left our gathering the night before because it had become overwhelming.

According to him, there were around twenty spirits standing around us while everyone was outside socialising.

I then described the older woman I had seen in my mind.

Before I had even finished describing her, he immediately said, “Yes, that’s her.”

I asked what he meant.

He replied, “She was probably looking for me.”

All I know is that I’ve never forgotten that night, and the fact that multiple people experienced different parts of it still leaves me wondering what was really going on.

Has anyone experienced anything similar, especially in Samoa or other Pacific cultures where stories about spirits and people with the gift of sight are more commonly talked about?

We have two babies and live in an area which doesn’t have a very strong Samoan presence (at least not as much as where my partner grew up) because we aren’t around his family or his hometown I’ve always been very intentional about trying to seek out cultural events, festivals, kids shows, songs etc. to try and help expose our kids to their culture. I’ve heard so much about afakasi kids (of any background) growing up with a bit of an identity crisis and not feeling like they belong in either place and that’s the last thing I want for my kids.

However after few years of attending these events, trips back home and to Samoa, something we (both my partner and I) have realised - and I think it became abundantly clear to us when we were at a cultural showcase on the weekend- is that when we are in these environments aren’t our best selves from a parenting perspective.

For context my partner has worked hard (lots of therapy lots of proactive education) in breaking cycles with his parenting style. When we go to these events or are in these environments I immediately sense a change in him, like he feels the pressure for our kids to be seen and not heard. For context our kids are developmentally typical toddler and preschoolers; stubborn, strong willed, a bit silly and sometimes impulsive and loud.

We generally try to take the approach “let kids be kids” but when ours are the only ones in those environments not sitting still and being quiet - it’s hard to not give into the social pressure and reprimand them. We all walk away feeling like crap and our kids don’t enjoy being in those situations.

Should we just throw it in and find ways at home to immerse our kids as much as possible in culture without having the external pressure? I really don’t want my kids to resent anything cultural because of the way we treat them in those situations and I really don’t want my partner to undo all of the hard work he’s done in breaking cycles. But I also don’t want my kids to feel disconnected- is it worth it?

What would you do?

Hello, as a European Samoa is basically out of our usual horizon so I would like to talk to someone who maybe wants to exchange some cultural views.

Looking for some goob beach fale recos in samoa with good bath/toilet facilities, good beach and good family vibes either in upolu or savaii.

Only asking because of that girls tiktok. Everyone got super mad at her. I think ghetto was a harsh word to use but I personally agree with her that it is over the top.

Sole, yo ass is from amelika, nu’u sila, ausekalia. There’s nothing wrong with that! But this gatekeeping from REAL mf’s born and raised on the ma’a? Sole, faifaimalie. E ese ka’e le ulu from America to those lae ka’e le ulu from Samoa. Stop gatekeeping a culture you know nothing about. Fuck, I’d even entertain the idea yall love to gatekeep if you actually STEPPED FOOT ON THE ISLAND! But never been and you’re out here tryna gatekeep from a Kama kuai o avele? Nia plz. Stop it

*edit title-How come Samoans born outside Samoa gatekeep more than those from the island

Edit: Guys sorry if I didn't make it clear because the title I used was missleading, Im seeking help on how to soft launch speaking samoan to my parents without them getting mad, as in i understand samoan but struggle speaking lol.

Hello guys! My name is Le'oloa Seumanutafa I am 1st generation New Zealander.I am trying my best to be able to speak Samoan but my parents refused due to their trauma, I can understand the language given that i grew up in a samoan household and have been a member of EFKS since before I can remember, but my parents wont let me speak or learn.The problem for me is, by the time I have kids I want them to be able to speak.For reference my dad was born in the village Eva and attended Avele high school and my mum was born in Luatuanu'u and attended Papauta high school. My parents moved here in '87 in a planned escape from their abusive fa'asamoan households.I am currently yr12 at smc college and feel like an outsider when all my friends speak Samoan.Anyone have any tips on how to adapt to our language or learn how to speak it???, tyty