University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu Hawaiian-Pacific Studies Professor Saʻiliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor published an article about women matai, or chiefs, in Pacific Studies, a multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of the people of the Pacific Islands.
In her article, “Women Matai (Chiefs): Navigating and Negotiating the Paradox of Boundaries and Responsibilities,” Lilomaiava-Doktor examines Samoan conception of gender roles and transformations examining women’s status and situation in light of ideological changes regarding gender relations and expectations in contemporary Samoa.
“I situate my paper in Samoan ways of knowing regarding gender roles and norms and draw on feminist (Trask 1984) works to provide guiding light for the cross cultural use of feminist theory to Samoan concepts of feagaiga, faʻa-matai (chieftainship system), and gender equality,” Lilomaiava-Doktor wrote in her abstract.
She studied women’s roles, especially as they take on matai titles, and examined what gains have been made and the dynamics involved for matai in the masculine (public sphere) of political authority — not only in villages, but also in government and parliamentary institutions.
“This article is the result of my research on women, gender, and development in the Pacific, Polynesia, that have been presented at the Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) conferences,” Lilomaiava-Doktor said.
Funding is provided by the university to faculty members who apply for academic conferences to present their current research, she said.
“Thank you for the support, especially to UH West Oʻahu, for travel funds to present at ASAO conferences, where this research was shared, exchanged, and vetted among Oceania researchers,” Lilomaiava-Doktor noted.
Lilomaiava-Doktor’s article is available in the James & Abigail Campbell Library’s DSpace repository.
Also, a hard copy of Pacific Studies (Vol. 43, No.1, June 2020) is available for purchase via the Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies at Brigham Young University of Hawaiʻi, which publishes the journal.