Samoa
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2006 was estimated at $1.218 billion USD.[citation needed] The industrial sector is the largest component of GDP at 58.4%, followed by the services sector at 30.2% (2004 est.). Agriculture represents only 11.4% of GDP (2004 est.). Samoan labor force is estimated at 90,000.[citation needed]
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Demographics
According to the CIA World Factbook, Samoa has a population of 214,265 of which 92.6% are Samoans, 7% Euronesians (persons of European and Polynesian blood) and 0.4% are Europeans. About three-quarters of the population live on the main island of Upolu.[19] Only the Māori of New Zealand outnumber Samoans among Polynesian groups, but a larger portion of Māori identify with more than one ethnic group.
Roughly 98% of Samoans are Christians, divided among many different churches, including: Congregationalist 35.5%, Roman Catholic 19.6%, Methodist 15%, Latter-Day Saints 12.7%, Assembly of God 6.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.5%, other Christian 4.0%, Worship Centre 1.3%, unspecified 0.8% (2001 census).[26] The Head of State until 2007, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II, was a Bahá'í convert. Samoa hosts one of seven Bahá'í Houses of Worship in the world; completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State, it is located in Tiapapata, 8 km from Apia.
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Culture
- See also: Music of Samoa
The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. Despite centuries of European influence, Samoa maintains its historical customs, social and political systems, and language. Samoans are deeply spiritual and religious people, and have subtly adapted the dominant religion of Christianity to 'fit in' with fa'a Samoa and vice versa. As such, ancient beliefs continue to co-exist side-by-side with Christianity, particularly in regard to the traditional customs and rituals of fa'a Samoa.
Samoans had gods of their own, as their mythological story of creation tells. The Samoan culture is centered around the principle of vāfealoa'i, the relationships between people. These relationships are based on respect, or fa'aaloalo. When Christianity was introduced in Samoa, most Samoan people converted. Currently 98% of the population identify themselves as Christian. The other 2 percent either identify themselves as irreligious, or do not belong to any congregation.
The Samoans have a communal way of life with little privacy. They do almost all their activities collectively. An example of this are the traditional Samoan fales (houses) which are open with no walls, using blinds made of coconut palm fronds during the night or bad weather.
As with many Polynesian islands with significant and unique tattoos, Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos. For males, it is called the tatau and consists of intricate and geometrical patterns tattooed that cover areas from the knees up towards the ribs. A male who possesses such a tatau is called a soga'imiti. A Samoan girl or teine is given a malu, which covers the area from just below her knees to her upper thighs.[27]
The traditional Samoan dance is the Siva. This dance is similar to the Hawaiian hula, with gentle movements of the hands and feet in time to music and which tells a story, although the Samoan male dances are more aggressive and snappy.[28] The "Sasa" is also a traditional Samoan dance, in which rows of dancers perform rapid synchronised movements in time to drums tins, or rolled mats. Its name originates from the Samoan word for "slap"; hence the Samoan "slap dance," which is accomplished by slapping different parts of the body. This was originally derived from slapping insects on the body and later became a form of dance.
According to Katerina Martina Teaiwa, PhD from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, “Hip hop culture in particular is popular amongst Samoan youth.” [29] This is not surprising considering the large amounts of migration between Samoa, Hawaii, and the United States mainland, specifically California. In addition, the integration of hip hop elements into Samoan tradition also “testifies to the transferability of the dance forms themselves,” and to the “circuits through which people and all their embodied knowledge travel.” [30] Dance both in its traditional form and its more modern forms has remained a central cultural currency to Samoans, especially youths. Teaiwa ends her article saying that the popularity of hip hop “is not necessarily oppositional to Samoan culture,” and has rather been integrated into the “solid family structure that looks far from disappearing in the face of increasing modernity.” [31]
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Sport
- See also: Sport in Samoa
The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union and Samoan cricket. About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League. A 2002 article from ESPN estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan, or a Samoan living in mainland United States) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American.[32]
Rugby union is very popular in Samoa and the national team nicknamed the Manu Samoa, is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Samoa have competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991, and have made the quarter finals in 1991 (where they beat Wales and came close to upsetting eventual world champions Australia), 1995 and the second round of the 1999 world cup.[33] At the 2003 world cup, Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions, England. Samoa also played in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Tri-Nations The sport is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, who are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, and thus, also contribute to the international Pacific Islanders rugby union team. At club level there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition there are many Samoans that have played for or are playing for the All Blacks.
Rugby league is also popular amongst Samoans, with Samoa reaching the quarter finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. They also took home the cup at Wellington and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in 2007 - for which the Prime Minister of Samoa, also Chairman of the national rugby union, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, declared a national holiday. Many Samoans and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National Leagues in Britain. Examples are Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala who represented the New Zealand All Blacks, then became the first million dollar player to be contract out to Rugby League to play for Wigan, then played Rugby Union for Newcastle Falcons before representing Samoa. Ta'ane Lavulavu of Workington Town, Maurie Fa'asavalu of St Helens and David Fatialofa of Whitehaven.
Samoans have been very visible in boxing, kickboxing and sumo; some Samoan sumos have reached the highest rank of Ozeki and yokozuna. Despite the relatively small population of the islands many Samoans and people of Samoan descent have reached high ranks in many professional sports leagues.
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See also
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References
- ^ a b c "Samoa an Overview", donbosco.asn.au. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ a b "List of Member States: S", United Nations. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Samoa - The Heart of Polynesia", Polynesian Culture Center. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ Watson, R.M. (1918). History of Samoa: THE ADVENT OF THE MISSIONARY. (1830.1839), Chapter III.
- ^ Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 1-4264-0754-8.
- ^ "Annexation of Samoa", GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ Josiah Crosby (1948). "The Future of Western Samoa". International Affairs 24 (1): 89-99. doi:.
- ^ "New Zealand goes to war: The Capture of German Samoa", nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Imperialism as a Vocation: Class C Mandates". Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "The 1918 flu pandemic", NZHistory.net.nz. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ Albert Wendt. "Guardians and Wards: (A study of the origins, causes, and the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa.)".
- ^ "Nelson, Olaf Frederick 1883 - 1944", Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "The Mau Movement". Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ Field, Michael (2006). Black Saturday: New Zealand's tragic blunders in Samoa. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed Publishing (NZ). ISBN 0790011034.
- ^ "History and migration: Who are the Samoans?", Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ New Zealand's apology to Samoa.
- ^ Prime Minister Helen Clark's Historic Apology.
- ^ "Constitution Amendment Act (No 2) 1997". Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ a b "Background Note: Samoa", U.S. State Department. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ New Zealand Herald. New head of state for Samoa. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
- ^ "Samoa: Key Facts: Political", New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Samoa: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2006", U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Smaoa: Climate", Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ GSA Press Release - GEOLOGY/GSA Today Media Highlights
- ^ "Samoa: Economy", CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ "Samoa: People; Religions", CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ "Worn With Pride > Tatau (Tatoo)", Oceanside Museum of Art. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ "Dance: Siva", Samoa.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ Dances of Life | American Samoa
- ^ Henderson, April K. “Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 180-199. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2000
- ^ Dances of Life | American Samoa
- ^ "American football, Samoan style", ESPN. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
- ^ "Rugby in Samoa", ManuSamoa.net. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
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Further reading
- Watson, RM, History of Samoa (Wellington, 1918)
- Schnee, Dr. Heinrich [former Deputy Governor of German Samoa and last Governor of German East Africa]. 1926. German Colonization, Past and Future—The Truth about the German Colonies. London: George Allen & Unwin.
- Eustis, Nelson. [1979] 1980. Aggie Grey of Samoa. Adelaide, South Australia: Hobby Investments. ISBN 0-9595609-0-4.
- Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 1-4264-0754-8.
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External links
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- Government of Samoa
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