Samoa
Governance in Samoa edited by Elise Huffer and Asofou So'o. Published
by Institute of Pacific Studies. ISBN 982020156X. Recommended retail price $34.
'Governance' was recently introduced into development terminology by the World
Bank and has been popularly adopted by international aid donors in the Pacific.
Governance agendas have been criticised for offering trendy and pre-ordained
programs that fail to address the complexities of particular local situations.
This book details how governance programs have affected some local institutions
and practices in Samoa and provides practical ways for more efficiently tailoring
future programs to the development needs of the country. Empirical case studies
are provided on issues of nascent civil society, problems of urban management,
non-government organizations working in the area of women's health, relationships
between the national government and villages, and the subversion of custom and
constitutional processes to personal political ambitions. The book contributes
to an understanding of how to enhance the efficient accountable management of
Samoa's economic, political, social and cultural resources for the benefit of
all its citizens. Soft cover, 222 pages. Published in 2000.
Islands of Samoa.
Map by James Bier. Recommended retail price $3.95
Described as "Comprehensive reference and travel maps of both American and Western
Samoa for resident and visitor. An accurate guide to the Heart of Polynesia."
One side covers Western Samoa while the reverse depicts American Samoa (Most
Samoans don't recognize the distinction).
Plants in Samoan Culture: The Ethnobotany of Samoa by Art Whistler.
Published by Isle Botanica. ISBN 0964542668. Recommended retail price $27.50.
The loss of traditional plant lore and traditional plants has prompted the
author to write Plants in Samoan Culture. However, a question has been brought
up several
times – how can a palagi (foreigner), write a book about Samoan plants?
It is an unfortunate fact that nearly all the written ethnobotanical information
about Polynesian cultures, and specifically, Samoan culture, is written by foreign
scientists rather than by local sources. Although not brought up in Samoa, Dr.
Whistler has some advantages, such as; he is a botanist, he likes to write books,
and he has a fascination for Samoan rainforests and their plants. He hopes that
in some way the publication of this book, and the information it contains may
be of interest to others who share his love of plants, and that it may serve
to stimulate others who are awaiting the call, so that they may help reverse
the trend towards the loss of traditional plant lore and the loss of the biodiversity
of traditional plants that call Samoa their home. Soft cover, 234 pages. Published
in 2004.
Pouliuli by Albert Wendt. Published by University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-0728-6. Recommended retail price $12.00.
Early on a drizzly Saturday morning Faleasa Osovae - the seventy-six year-old titled head of the Aiga Falease, faithful husband of a devoted Felefele, stern but generous father of seven sons and five obedient daughters, and the most respected alii in the village of Malalua - woke with a strange bitter taste in his mouth to find ... that everything and everybody ... that till then had given meaning to his existence, now filled him, with an almost unbearable feeling of revulsion ...
_And so begins an extraordinary reading experience!
"Few novelists of the Pacific islands could be less derivative in terms of the real vision into the life and character of non-Western society.... Even fewer novels, Western or Third World, can reach the strength and artistic power of Pouliuli." --World Literature Today
Soft cover, 152 pages. Published in 1980.
Rainforest Trees of Samoa: A guide to the common lowland and foothill forest trees of the Samoan Archipelago by Art Whistler. ISBN 0964542641. Published by Isle Botanica. Recommended retail price $27.50.
The title pretty much says it all. As with other books by Art Whistler this is competently written and expertly illustrated with the author's own photographs. Dr Whistler has spent years studying the Samoan forest and is the acknowledged expert on the subject. Soft cover, 210 pages. Published in 2004.
Samoa by Dorinda
Talbot and Deanna Swaney. Recommended retail price $14.95.
Samoa is a fabulous destination for the traveler who wants the “real” Polynesia.
The real Polynesia since it has been Christianized that is. This Lonely Planet
guide approaches Samoa with the same thoroughness and attention to detail as the
others in the series. Replete with maps and color photos it is highly recommended.
Paddy has lived and worked in Western Samoa for nearly three months and can attest
to the accuracy of this guide. Soft cover, 193 pages.
Samoa: A Hundred
Years Ago and Long Before by George Tucker. Recommended retail price $15.
First printed in London in 1884 this is a reprint of a missionary’s views of Samoa
in the 19th century. George Turner discusses origins, religion, wars, aging, food
liquors, clothing, amusements, diseases, celebrations, houses, canoes, government
and a host of other aspects of Samoa. Ever popular, this work has been reprinted
in 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992. Soft cover, 266 pages.
Samoans in Fiji by Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano. ISBN 9820203171. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. Recommended retail price $14.
Islanders of Samoan ancestry living in Fiji belong more to Fiji than to Samoa. They think of Fiji and its many cultures as home. But as a mixed-race minority, this is not always easy. Their status and options both at home and abroad are the focus of this book.
Their future, and that of many other ‘expatriate’ Islander communities in the South Pacific nations, is important, and likely to become more so as Pacific Islands set out into new forms of association.
The author, scion of one of Samoa’s great chiefly lines, has since 1985, taught Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific. He is married to Eileen Tuimaleali’ifano, a Fiji citizen of multi-ethnic ancestry, and USP’s Co-ordinator of Extension Studies. Their children are typical of the ‘fruit-salad’ people about whom the book is written – a fact which lends not only authority to the study, but also a sense of immediacy and interest. Soft cover,
247 pages. Published in
1990.
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Last modified on Sunday, May 19, 2013