Sāmoan multiplicities: Experiences of Sāmoan-ness
The project Sāmoan Multiplicities explores how Sāmoanness is shaped across multiple geographies and histories. While politically divided between the independent state of Sāmoa and the US territory of American Sāmoa, the broader Sāmoan world also extends through large diasporic communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Hawaiʻi, the US West Coast, the UK and beyond. The research investigates how Sāmoan identity persists through transformations by focusing on spatial and temporal dimensions such as landscapes, journeys, genealogies, narratives and memories, as well as the interplay of bodies, environments and material objects found globally, including in museum collections. It seeks to understand how Sāmoanness remains resilient, reshaped but unbroken, maintaining integrity within flexible boundaries.