IMAGINING THE SOUTH SEAS: THOUGHTS ON THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF PARADISE IN SAMOA

Authors

Sharon W. Tiffany, University of Wisconsin–WhitewaterFollow

Abstract

Controversy generated by criticism of research Margaret Mead conducted nearly three-quarters of a century ago reminds us that modern ethnography came of age with fieldwork conducted on the sexual lives of Pacific Islanders. The Samoa debate suggests that an exotic eroticism continues to inform representations of women in anthropological writings and popular culture, and that Samoa is a candidate for sexual paradise on earth. This article explores the image-making of paradise by examining book covers and photographs associated with Margaret Mead’s and Derek Freeman’s narratives of Samoa. As cultural artifacts, book covers and photographs offer an intriguing way of investigating issues of ethnographic representation and the problem of who “owns” the bodies of Pacific Islander women.

Recommended Citation

Tiffany, Sharon W. (2001) "IMAGINING THE SOUTH SEAS: THOUGHTS ON THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF PARADISE IN SAMOA," Pacific Studies: Vol. 24: No. 3, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol24/iss3/2