Samoans

Multiracial Americans have increased in the population. I am black, white and samoan, with a biracial mother and a fully samoan father. Racism/discrimination are circumstances I have never had to deal with in my life. I was always aware of the cruel,racist people in this world but I have never experienced it first hand, just like my father. I never thought…

Talofa! It means “Hello” or “Hi” in the Samoan language. A kind greeting, I will never forget. When I was in high school there was no such thing as an openly “gay” person. The ones who knew that you were even an ounce of “gay” you were bullied or maybe even worse things happened. One of my close friends, today is happily married to someone of same sex. Many things have changed over the years, but the view of same sex marriage has been in progress for decades. Today all fifty states of American…

aspects of Samoa and Tonga where those that hold a high status who are considered to be powerful figures in the Pacific but also it will examine the politicians who are not exactly of Polynesian descent but they may play a role in influencing the Samoan and Tongan peoples and their world…

lives. The perfect American girl, cooks, cleans, and makes life easier for her male relatives and families; outside ventures are looked down upon. Although both societies have women’s expectations found in the household, the Samoan female has a more flexible mindset. Samoan women are expected to clean, weave, and bear children, but they are encouraged to hold off to those responsibilities. The girls even indulge in personal activities and give into their own personal desires, such as their…

One of the earliest and most prominent attempts to deal with qualitative and quantitative approaches is exhibited in the distinction between the emic and etic concepts. Culture is a shared and symbolic system of values and beliefs that contribute in influencing people’s behavior and perception of the world. Cultural dimensions are constructed to explain and compare norms for a specific type of behavior in cultures. Social norms are expected behaviors and attitudes in smaller social group.…

Culture implies a variety of things. It encompasses complex systems of thought and belief across a group. It provides structure to the morality and behavior of a community-not only directing their actions, but providing context as to why they act that way. Naturally, the culture one grows up in helps build their identity, as does the language they speak, the social class they belong to, and the country that breeds them. How atrocious, then, is the act of transforming one’s indigenous culture…

Joy Hargrove is a woman who you could spend weeks interviewing and continue to learn more information about her. Ms. Hargrove is a retired airplane mechanic, trilingual, and indigenous to American Samoan/Hawai’i. I have always been in awe of Ms. Hargrove and her incredible survivor mindset, so I knew I wanted to interview Ms. Hargrove to learn more about this fascinating woman. We met outside her house, where she has a semi-covered patio, a futon with princess netting, and dozens of plants and…

Jack Eller interprets gender as the following “the social or cultural characteristics- rules, roles, tasks, values, and meanings - that are assigned to people on the basis of (some or another) sexual characteristics.” In western culture it is believed that there are only two genders, male and female but on every single continent there are cultures that believe, or used to believe that there can be three, four, or five genders to either be born into or that you can choose to be. Although now we…

Margaret Mead was a popular American writer, cultural, and visual anthropologist. Throughout her career, Margaret Mead has conducted over twenty field trips (Yans-McLaughlin 2000). In addition, Mead’s fieldwork focused on the development and growth of adolescents. The reason why I chose Margaret Mead is because of the tremendous contributions that she has made to the field of anthropology and the public. In addition, I find it very astounding that Mead “offers a resolution of the old apparent…

Mieko ASSIGNMENT #1 QUESTIONS: (due 11:59pm, Thursday, February 11th) Provide essay-style answers (e.g., complete sentences) to the following questions. The best answers are accurate, highly descriptive, and well above the indicated "bare minimum" word ranges. Upload your completed assignment to your Laulima DROPBOX. Make sure to read each question carefully! #1: (150 words minimum) Western medicine tends to have an “ethnocentric” view of itself in comparison to the medical beliefs and…