Western Samoa Culture
West Samoa CultureAccomplishments -- Dorfgestaltung und symbolische Orientierungen -- Materielle Kultur der'aiga sa po'e -- Wohnhäuser und Gästehäuser (General principals of Samoan home decoration; living matter; change of home style; substitution of tradional home styles) -- Craft. Other weaving; Other importance of the production of rugs; Polavai and Dad rugs; Polavai and Dad rugs; Falla su'i and Falà ul Mega rugs;'Ie toga:
fala pepe: babymats; trendy decorations ) -- Siapo: bark cloth (Siapo 1980; produced by Vaito'omuli, Savai'i; men and woman as seapo designers) -- Canoe. Fish --'Ali: Cushions -- Kava shells -- Tombs -- Samoan People' s Arts -- Modern Arts and Esthetics -- Artefact Trafficking -- Samonic Materials Culture since 1930 -- Rate of Changes -- Evolution.
The" super uncles" of Samoa
Masculine homogeneity makes no point from an evolving perspective. But since gay men are much less likely to have descendants than straight men, shouldn't the gene for this characteristic have long since been erased? A possible explanatory factor is what evolutionalists call the "kinship choice hypothesis".
Theories suggest that gay men could improve their own chances by being "helpers in the nest". "By being altruistic towards relatives and grandchildren, gay men - bachelors uncle in action - would immortalize the families genetics, even their own. In recent years, two Evolutionalists have tested this concept on the Pacific Isle of Samoa.
It was Paul Vasey and Doug VanderLaan of Lethbridge University, Canada, who elected Samoa because men's gays, who are known there as fa'afafin, are widely recognised and are not considered to be either men or woman in their own sex group. Fa'afafine have a tendency to be soft and solely gay. In the past, scientists have shown that fa'afafine are much more unselfish towards their relatives and grandchildren than Samoan or straight men.
The most recent research by the researchers focused on unravelling the fa'afafine in order to see if their alttruism is specifically aimed at relatives and not children in general. She enlisted a large random sampling of fa'afafine and similarly sampled females and straight males. All of them were given a questionnaire to measure their readiness to help their relatives in various ways - care, presents, education - and also their readiness to do these things for other, non-related children.
In comparison with Samoan females and straight men, the fa'afafine showed a much more weak connection between their auncular behaviour and their altruism towards children in general. According to the researchers, this separation allows fa'afafine to assign its own ressources more effectively and accurately to its relatives - and thus to improve its own evolving perspectives.
There is no way to make up for the fact that you don't have children just by giving your little boy a plaything or throwing a soccer ball with his nee. In order to make up for childlessness, each fa'afafine would somehow have to help the lives of two other relatives or grandchildren who would otherwise not have been.
To put it briefly, the fa'afafine must be "super-uncles" to make their upkeep. What do these results mean outside Samoa? Saamanic culture is very different from most Western civilizations. Saoan culture is very localised and concentrates on closely connected large family groups, while Western society is very individualist and Homophob.
Also, in Western civilizations there is a much greater geographical dispersion of hostages, which reduces the roles that stag party-uncles may have in the large familiy, even if they wish. However, in this respect, the scientists say, Samoa's community culture can be more - not less - typical of the context in which masculine homogeneity developed before aeons.
It is not the stag party boy who has badly adjusted to the outside environment, but the western contemporary and unwelcome part.