MATAI TAMAITAI: “THE MISTRESS OF THE FAMILY”

Authors

Melani Anae, University of Auckland

Abstract

This article examines faamatai (the Samoan chiefly system) and the impacts of globalization that have disempowered or reempowered women in new ways. The discourse of “women” in a transnational context is explored by perspectives from six life-story interviews of matai tamaitai in Hawaiʻi, Sydney and Oceanside and data from 88 women matai from a global online faamatai survey. It explores the faamatai tenet of ‘lima malosi ma loto alofa’ (strong hands and a loving heart), experienced as the exertion of her pule (secular authority), malosi (economic strength), mana (spiritual power), and mamalu (reverence, dignity, and social power) free from ‘traditional’ village and male-dominated village councils, and church male leadership. In essence, the transnational space away from Samoa, which has been ravaged by the forces of colonialism, Christianity and capitalism, provides the opportunity for the revitalizing of the power of matai tamaitai which has been subsumed since 1830s.

Recommended Citation

Anae, Melani (2020) "MATAI TAMAITAI: “THE MISTRESS OF THE FAMILY”," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 43: No. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol43/iss1/6