Translating transgender: Using Western discourses to understand Samoan fa'afāfine

Abstract

The analysis of gender as a socially constructed category is one of the foundations of the sociological project. The concept of transgender is of particular interest, in that it reveals that sex is not necessarily constitutive of gender. Gender nonconformity in non‐Western contexts particularly demonstrates that the ways in which sex, gender, and sexuality are conceptualised in Western discourses are open to challenge. However, academic research about non‐Western transgender identities and populations often ultimately replicates specific heteronormative and/or Western ways of seeing the world. In this article, I discuss how Samoan fa'afāfine have been represented by various academic disciplines, using a sociological perspective to deconstruct discourses commonly used in this process, which include Orientalism, essentialism, and functionalism. I then outline research that allows for a more nuanced understanding of the lived experience of fa'afāfine, situating them within the broader Samoan cultural context and paying attention to how fa'afāfine themselves construct and maintain their identities. I conclude that this more holistic approach should be taken with all representations of non‐Western and Western nonheteronormative identities and populations.

Mental Health Inequities among Transgender People in Aotearoa New Zealand: Findings from the Counting Ourselves Survey

“…Māori terms that encompass gender diversity include whakawahine, takatāpui, and tangata ira tāne [2]. The significant Pacific population also means that New Zealanders are relatively familiar with terms such as the Samoan identity, fa'afafine [3].…”

Nurturing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

“…It is worth recognising the long history of scholarship relating to gender, including work to highlight the existence of many, rather than two, genders. For instance, Johanna M. Schmidt (2017) describes how, for almost a century, the concept of a 'third gender' has been explored by anthropologists through examples of cultural or historical contexts where masculinity and femininity transcend Western understandings of gender. Examples include Samoan males, Fa'afafine, who behave in 'feminine' ways (Schmidt, 2016); or the Two Spirit people in North America, who are individuals not necessarily identifying as LGBT, but whose behaviours or beliefs may sometimes be interpreted by others as uncharacteristic of their sex (see Jacobs et al, 1997).…”

‘Let fa’afafine shine like diamonds’: Balancing accommodation, negotiation and resistance in gender-nonconforming Samoans’ counter-hegemony

“…Key existing studies that offer insights into this question include Besnier’s (1996) early work on gender liminality in the Pacific, which is one of the first critical studies concerning non-heteronormative Pacific Islanders, and Dolgoy’s (2000, 2014) comprehensive work on the early history (from the 1960s to mid-1980s) of the ‘ fa’afafine movement’. Schmidt (2003, 2010, 2016, 2017) also provides extensive and valuable analysis of the complexities of the gender embodiment and identification of fa’afafine in New Zealand and Samoa, with particular attention to Westernisation and migration as key contexts. Other relevant research examines such questions as the cultural roles, meanings and representations of fa’afafine (Mageo, 1992, 1996, 2008; Roen, 2001; Schoeffel, 2014; Wolf, 2010), and their legal status (Farran, 2010, 2014; Farran and Su’a, 2005).…”

“…Other relevant research examines such questions as the cultural roles, meanings and representations of fa’afafine (Mageo, 1992, 1996, 2008; Roen, 2001; Schoeffel, 2014; Wolf, 2010), and their legal status (Farran, 2010, 2014; Farran and Su’a, 2005). In the context of this growing body of research, we take note of Schmidt’s (2017) observation that representations of fa’afafine by academic disciplines have often been framed by Western discourses such as Orientalism, essentialism and functionalism, and her call for a more nuanced understanding of the lived experience of fa’afafine. McMullin and Kihara’s (2018) collection of autobiographical stories by fa’afafine and non-heteronormative Samoans makes an important contribution towards such a goal.…”