Understanding Samoan discourses of Family Violence

Although there is much information about family violence in New Zealand, little is known about how this phenomenon is understood and experienced by the various ethnic populations that make up this multicultural country. Using qualitative methodology, this research focused on Samoans who live in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and explored how family violence has impacted their distinct experiences, as migrants in a new country, while growing up as Samoan New Zealanders, and as adults who had families of their own. This research used two theoretical approaches, Critical Discourse Analysis and the Samoan concept of the vā feāloa’i to explore how family violence was positioned within the Samoan worldview and how power or coercion presented itself with regards to interpersonal relationships and pre-ordained roles and responsibilities or tofi. Semi-structed interviews were carried out with ten Samoan participants attending tertiary institutions. The group was divided equally between males and females representing an age range from 19 years to 56 years. The key findings of this research were determined through narrative analysis and are discussed more broadly within the context of tofi. Three key findings came out of the participant responses. These included how introduced religions had played a key role in embedding patriarchal values into the fa’asamoa, how the tofi (duty, roles and responsibilities) were especially impacted, with negative impacts often leading to incidences of family violence, and how the vā feāloa’i in its unassuming but time-transcending nature, provided a consciousness for Samoans who drew upon it, for dealing with family violence and affirming their fa’asamoa and fa’asinomaga (Samoan identity, sense of belonging). The thesis offers a broader discussion that contextualises these findings within the realities of Samoan families impacted by family violence. A critical issue at the centre of this discussion, raised by female respondents, and recognised by some of the male respondents, was that Samoan males, through decades of reinforced patriarchy, have found themselves in a position where they consider themselves superior to their female counterparts. The tofi that were pre-ordained to benefit the greater good regardless of their status, such as that of being a matai, have heighted and privileged this sense of superiority and power. The females, especially wives, whose traditional roles included being fautua (advisor/counsel) to her husband were always at risk of being challenged as unsupportive of her husband or male elder no matter how reasonable/unreasonable the challenge. A Samoan configuration of social power and its coercive application seems to have gelled with an equally coercive approach to leadership where men in familial and community settings have naturalized the oppression of Samoan women by heightened vulnerability to violence. This study maintains that what has been silenced, in the oppressive triumvirate of silence-stigma-shame in Samoan contexts, is the vā feāloa’i - that leadership roles within the fa’asamoa, which are bound by good interpersonal relationships have been trampled over by the overwhelming prevalence of family violence in Samoan families. The findings and discussions in this thesis provide a baseline for further nuanced thought and talanoa on family violence in Samoan communities. Understanding the discourses that lie beneath the surface of Samoan explanations of family violence is essential for meaningful long-term interventions.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Peteru, Andrew Reuben

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Suaalii-Sauni, Tamasilau
• Mayeda, David

• Samoan discourses
• Family Violence
• Fa'atofala'iga

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/73597

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/73597