Va and Djalan: Indigenous Diplomacy through Samoan Tatau and Paiwan Vecik

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Indigenous diplomacy in Oceania through an examination of contemporary tattooing practices in Samoan and Paiwan communities in Taiwan. Inspired by Hau'ofa's essay "Our Sea of Islands," and the scope for a dialogue between Samoan tatau and Paiwan vecik, the thesis explores how tattooing might assume a role in the navigation of new relationships across Oceania. In order to address this question, I spent over fourteen months amongst hosts in Aai-O-Niue, Samoa, and in numerous Paiwan communities in southern and eastern Taiwan. My method of enquiry centres on the navigational metaphors of positioning, experiencing and anchoring as a means of addressing the relationality between Samoan tatau and Paiwan vecik in a trans-Indigenous context. Adopting a reflexive autobiographical approach, I focus on embodied encounters as the grounds for an Oceanian alliance. I suggest that Samoan relationality, or va, is profoundly expressed through the extended tattooing family and through the embeddedness in customary values (fa'a-Samoa) of my hosts in the sa Li'aifaiva clan. This concept finds a parallel in Paiwan epistemology of pathing (djalan) and in customary protocols (kakudan), articulated in the process of navigating across contemporary Oceania, led by Paiwan tattooist Cudjuy Patjidres. While preserving their distinct cultural protocols, the relational pathing of va and djalan provides protocols for an Indigenous diplomacy, and the wayfinding knowledge that allows us to traverse Oceania. This thesis documents the critical position of Li'aifaiva in Samoan tatau and contemporary Samoan society. It sets out a theoretical framework for understanding relationships among contemporary Indigenous Oceanian communities. Building on Hau'ofa's vision of Our Sea of Islands, it positions Paiwan within the Oceanian realm, and establishes a sense of Indigenous diplomacy that will ground the development of future relationships. Show more