{"title":"Titular disputes and national leadership in Samoa","authors":"M. Tuimalealiifano","doi":"10.1080/00223349808572860","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"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...","PeriodicalId":45229,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF PACIFIC HISTORY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"1998-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/00223349808572860","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF PACIFIC HISTORY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00223349808572860","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
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...
萨摩亚的政治史主要是关于matai(有爵位的家族首领)头衔的较量。马泰头衔的意义在于附属土地,这与大多数萨摩亚人的福利息息相关。对头衔的争夺转化为对权利保障以及获得土地和资源的争夺。四个古老而神圣的头衔pāapā站在萨摩亚社会的顶端,一个名为tumua ma pule的精英演说家团体管理着复杂的政治竞赛。成功地获得这四个头衔是罕见的,而竞争的政党通常花了他们一生的大部分时间来维持这种主要是仪式化的地位。最有资格的竞争者来自sha tupuha家族,并在19世纪初加入了sha malietoha家族。所有权纠纷造成了无休止的混乱,殖民地政府最终废除了所有权。但它们无法被扫除,因为这些头衔提供了一种意识形态的上层建筑,将大多数人粘在一起……
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Pacific History is a refereed international journal serving historians, prehistorians, anthropologists and others interested in the study of mankind in the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii and New Guinea), and is concerned generally with political, economic, religious and cultural factors affecting human presence there. It publishes articles, annotated previously unpublished manuscripts, notes on source material and comment on current affairs. It also welcomes articles on other geographical regions, such as Africa and Southeast Asia, or of a theoretical character, where these are concerned with problems of significance in the Pacific.