Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Samoan Queer Lives delves into the unique lives of Samoan people who are 'fa afafine' - broadly understood in the Western interpretation as persons who are of transgender, intersexed and third sex, or gay, lesbian and bisexual origin.
This book, the first of its kind, is edited and written by fa afafine. Here fa afafine share their stories in their own words.
- Twenty autobiographical stories.
- Includes personal accounts that cross lines of gender and culture, and span generations, professions and geography.
- Each chapter in the book is accompanied by a portrait.
- The stories are by turns angry, humorous, intimate and raw.
- Introduction by Dan Taulapapa McMullin and Foreword by Yuki Kihara.
Synopsis
Samoan Queer Lives is a collection of personal stories from one of the world's unique indigenous queer cultures. The first of its kind, this book features a collection of autobiographical pieces by fa afafine, transgender, and queer people of Sāmoa, one of the original continuous indigenous queer cultures of Polynesia and the Pacific Islands.
Featuring 14 autobiographical stories from fa afafine and LGBTIQ Samoans based in Sāmoa, Amerika Sāmoa, Australia, Aotearoa NZ, Hawai i and USA. Includes a foreword and introduction by co-editors Dan Taulapapa McMullin and Yuki Kihara. Each story is accompanied by a portrait.
"I've never really tried to be either a girl or a guy. I've always been me. And I suppose being me is fa afafine. Then, all of the expression I put in my work is I. It's not colored by any gender of any kind. I've never been cautious of what is man or woman, how I see my perspective of any situation, and it was not ever politicised or in a contest where a fa afafine or a man or a woman is treated in any way."