Samoans+-+CA+-+SP12

Nigel Ravida and Eli Kinnard Culture of Samoa
 * Language:** The country of Samoa has two official languages, which are Samoan and English. The people of American Samoa are usually bilingual, with the capability of speaking both English and Samoan. However, people in Samoa usually speak Samoan before English. Recently schools have required their students to learn English. In Samoa, English is the usually only spoken in wealthier communities while Samoan is spoken throughout the wealthy and poor communities.


 * Beliefs:** Ninety-nine percent of Samoa practices Christianity. Although the Samoan Constitution promotes religious freedom, occasionally a Chief of one of the many Samoan tribes will select a religion for the tribe to follow. Failure to follow the chosen religion could result in banishment from the tribe. Depending on the religion the chief selects, some tribes can have prayer sessions every single night for as long as twenty minutes. Samoan tribes are based on the idea of a republic, as they are able to select the chief of their tribe. The chief is then in charge of the social, economical, and political affairs.


 * Values:** Samoans find many things valuable to their culture. For example, education is very important to Samoans. Parents believe that education is the key to a better future, which will lead to a well paying job. Pride in schoolwork is one reason why the number of Samoans that are capable of reading and writing is more than 99%. Samoans also take pride in tattooing. Tattooing is somewhat of a “right-of-passage” from childhood to adulthood. The tattoos spread from the waist to the knees for men and from the knees to the upper thigh for women. Each tattoo represents a different aspect of the Samoan culture, such as canoes from the sea to the roof of the chief’s home.


 * Behaviors:** Samoans are all about respect. From the time a child is born until adulthood, they are forced to respect any elders they encounter. Also, if you are one of the oldest siblings, you are expected to help take care of your younger siblings as a sign of taking care of your family. Families in Samoa are based on extended families. Many households consist of the parents, children, and grandparents. Music is a big role in Samoa as young and old citizens can enjoy singing along to a traditional Samoan song. Recently, children in Samoa have been fascinated by American pop music. The children enjoy singing these pop lyrics in English. If you lived in Apia, the capital of Samoa, many children enjoy longboat races while adults spend time playing dominoes.

Cultural Change


 * Technology:** The technology in Samoa has come a very long way. During the 1900’s, houses in Samoa were known as fales. Fales were round or oval structures with no walls with a thatch roof and were supported by posts. During the mid 1900’s, Europeans came to Samoa and influenced many areas to have fales with concrete floors and corrugated iron roofs. Ever since the 1990’s, Samoans have begun to construct modern day houses. Cell phones have also been on the rise in Samoa. Almost 95% of Samoans had cell phone access in 2009. Samoa also has several television and radio stations throughout the country.


 * Commercialization:** The Samoans are greatly impacted by agriculture. About two-thirds of the country is involved in agriculture in some way. One of the leading exports of Samoa are coconuts and other products that come from coconuts such as coconut cream, coconut oil, and copra, which is the kernel of the coconut. Other exports include fish and other agriculture goods. Interaction with America, Europe, and other areas has established modern day sports in Samoa. Cricket and rugby are two popular sports in Samoa that is played by men of all ages. American football has also been popular in Samoa. Many Samoan citizens have come to the United States to get college scholarships and to hopefully play in the National Football League someday.


 * Transportation:** Due to interactions with many modernized and advanced countries, Samoa has been modernized with their transportation as well. It is common to see cars and buses in Samoa that are similar to cars and buses in the United States. However, in Samoa they drive on the left hand side instead of the right hand side. For areas that are not big cities, which includes small tribes and islands, people walk wherever they need to go. Since many tourists have visited this country, National airports have been established in Samoa throughout recent years. Samoan citizens, along with tourists, are capable of flying on small planes from island to island.


 * CITATIONS:**

[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UybNI9nF9Oc__]  (Primary Source) This video shows traditional music of Samoa and how children act when the presence of elders are around. This also shows the value of the songs they sing along with the type of clothing the men wear.

[|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H8RUg25UPk__]  (Primary Source) This video shows the value of a tattoo and what it means to the Samoan community. It also shows how Samoans are bilingual, which means they are capable of speaking their two official languages.

[|__http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=SUIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|CX1931400423&mode=view__] "Samoa." //Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations Online//. Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen M. Hobby. Detroit: Gale, 2009. //Gale Student Resources In Context//. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

This website gave many values that the Samoans feel are highly appreciated. It also gave us information about the behaviors of Samoan children and adults as well as modernized technology.

[|__http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=true&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=GALE|00000000MLZX&documentId=GALE|EJ2305100329&mode=view__] "Samoans." //Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures//. Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: U*X*L, 2012. 35-42. //Gale Student Resources In Context//. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. This website gave information about the types of houses in the village and how they have become modernized over the years. It also gave more information about their religion.

[|__http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15655855__] "BBC News - Samoa country profile - Overview." //BBC - Homepage//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. . This website included accurate information about the religion of Samoa. It also gave extra information about their religion that not too many other sources gave.

[|__http://www.samoa.co.uk/transport.html__]

"Samoa - Transport - Getting there and around and about." //Samoa - Samoan Sensation - THE Site about Samoa//. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. .

This website talks about the ways of transportation that are used in Samoa.