Thesis rough draft samoan islands and the 1918 flu PDF

Preview

Summary

rough draft...

Description

1

1918 flu pandemic: the cultural impact it had on the Samoan islands. Melissa de Szendeffy Central Washington University Hist 481 May 16th 2020

Moana, tattoos, rugby, and wrestling. A few things in contemporary media that come to

2

mind when thinking about American Samoa. Ofcourse, there is so much more to this area and its people than meets the eye. With the world currently facing COVID-19, articles on American Samoa’s response to the 1918 flu pandemic have been popping up as popular readings. The governor of the time, John Martin Poyer, implemented quarantine on the entire island and stopped the spread of influenza without a single casualty. As someone who has been struggling with quarantine, initially, this story brought hope. What has come to light while researching this event is the cultural impact on the islands involved. Cultural and domestic relationships were severely affected by the 1918 flu itself and the island’s colonial responses to the flu. Effects like the loss of communication between the islands during quarantine, the inability to practice traditions like burial rites and the passing of traditional knowledge, and how the Mau movement was still able to be a Pan-Samoan response to these events. This essay will be focusing on the Samoan islands as a whole with the time analysis range being between 1918 through 1930. (colonial background)

In the scope of 1918, colonial control was pretty fresh in the Samoan islands. Because of the Tripartite Convention in 1899, Germany and the United States partitioned the Samoan islands amongst themselves to protect their interests in the islands. Germany’s rule over Western Samoa lasted from 1900 through 1914, where New Zealand seized control of the island during the first World War. (unsure how in depth I should in contextual information) (Samoan cultural background)

To truly be able to understand the cultural impact the flu and the colonial responses to it had, Samoan culture and ideology must be addressed first. According to Sailiemanu Lilomaiava’s Changing morphology of graves and burials in Samoa, Samoan society is constructed around a collective system of governance. That system is called fa’a Matai, meaning each family unit

3

having its own leader or chief ( because Matai means chief or leader in Samoan). Extended family or ‘aiga’ fall under the governance of the ‘Matai’ meaning that the eurocentric ideas of immediate family and extended family do not work in this setting very well. The people recognize immediate and extended family in Samoan culture, but their relationships are more communal versus in western society our extended families are a separate family unit. (pandemic break down) The question here is what happened? Well, the flu and ignorance happened. According to McLane, John R. “Influenza 1918: the Samoan Experience”, the second wave of influenza was reaching Asia and the South Pacific area. The S.S Talune was making its normal stops for trade among the Polynesian islands. (planning on adding more background on Col. Logan here) Before the S.S Talune ported in Western Samoa, influenza was most likely picked up in Auckland, New Zealand. The Talune was quarantined in Fiji but not in Western Samoa, leaving the Samoan people at risk for influenza. On American Samoa, the governor John Poyer was in contact with the U.S so he was informed on the influenza situation back on the mainland. The U.S at this time was having a “hands off” approach according to West Hunter’s article Disaster in the South Pacific meaning that John Poyer was making the executive choices on the island. Poyer followed navy protocol and quarantined the island. ( I could add more but I’m unsure if that would be too much for context vs analysis) Both the flu itself and the colonial responses to the flu created a cultural catastrophe for the Samoan people. This began with the loss of communication between the islands. (a primary source on Logan being a racist jerk + analysis will go here) Because American Samoa quarantined their islands, the ability to be communal with extended family on the other islands

4

was not possible during that time. Since the U.S had a hands off approach to running American Samoa and Poyer was making the choices, Poyer was able to use the social structure of Samoan culture in the favor of quarantine. Poyer was able to convince the local Matais to work with him in patrolling the perimeter of the island, making sure all unidentified boats were not boarding onto the island. Mail from the Western Samoa to American Samoa was also cut off during the quarantine, becoming a catalyst for an improper response from New Zealand. According to James Stout’s article How American Samoa Kept a Pandemic at Bay, Colonel Logan sent a mail boat from Western Samoa to Pago Pago, the main port on American Samoa. The boat never made it to the docks because of John Poyer. Poyer made it very clear that unless the crew were to quarantine like all ships from Western Samoa had to, they and their mail were not coming ashore. Colonel Logan was so offended by this action from Poyer and American Samoa, Logan cut all contact with them. Even when American Samoa offered medical aid. This is where loss of communication becomes permanent for some with the immense loss of life on Western Samoa. As this paper has stated before, Western Samoa lost twenty to twenty two percent of their population because of Logan’s first mistake with the Talune not being quarantined and him denying aid from American Samoa. As communal and ritualistic as the Samoan culture was (and still is), death has a part in that as well. Mass graves are definitely against core beliefs in Samoan ideology. (primary source still being analyzed for argument)Because of that strong kinship bond, family members are not buried in cemeteries, but at the family home. There are also traditional funeral practices that emphasize familial support after the passing of a family member according to Bryon Seiuli’s “Samoan Death Rituals in a New Zealand Context.”. That was sadly not happening really during the pandemic in Western

5

Samoa. Jamie Tahan’s article “How NZ Took Influenza to Samoa, Killing a Fifth of Its Population.”quoted “In one village, Sale’aumua, 100 people died. All funeral traditions were thrown aside as people raced to bury the bodies. Some fales in which entire families died were set alight”. More than just family and dignity was taken away but also cultural knowledge. Dr. Salesa, an associate professor at Auckland university with specialties in Pacific studies and colonial history, also stated that “ of the thirty Faipule, a body of the country’s chiefs, only seven survived the epidemic. Those two months devastated Samoan knowledge, culture, and society in a way that lingers today”. (additional research is being done to incorporate Margaret Mead’s research in the Samoan islands)

(Mau movement/ response to colonial failures) Just to be clear, the 1918 flu pandemic did not create the Mau movement, but reignited its original quarrels with colonial rule in the Samoan islands. The Mau movement was a PanSamoan peaceful protest movement, but both Samoan islands had slight differences in their movements. Western Samoa’s Mau movement resurgence came from Colonel Logan’s mishandlings of the influenza pandemic. It began with petitions like this one (primary source that I’m having a hard time citing). This document clearly states that the Samoan people could no longer stay under control of the New Zealand government because of the introduction of influenza being New Zealand's fault.

6

The feelings from these petitions lingered amongst the people until the movement's formal reinstatement in 1927. (more research/ document analysis still being worked on) The American Samoa’s Mau movement appears to be a less told story or forgotten according to Davad A. Chappell, the author of The Forgotten Mau: Anti-Navy protest in American Samoa, 1920-1935. Chappell also states that this is most likely overlooked because American Samoa is still a territory of the United States. It also seems that way because of the slight differences in protest desires between Western Samoa and American Samoa. Instead of wanting full independence like Western Samoa, American Samoa mainly wanted a non-arbitrary rule from the United States Navy. As stated before, the United States had a “hands off” approach to governing the island even shortly after the pandemic. Cultural conflicts also come into play according to I.Cambell in "Chiefs, Agitators and the Navy: The Mau in American Samoa, 1920 —29”, they stated that American ideas of government and Samoan ideas are a “bad fit”. Giving the example of the cultural importance of tuna to the Samoan people. Cambell explains that the tuna is seen as a chiefly fish, a fish when caught is presented to the chief out of respect. An unidentified man was caught eating one of these tunas alone and the chief punished him, but the chief in return was punished by the navy. A moment where American ideas of governance does not mix with Samoan ideals, like oil to water. (research is still being conducted on this)

Works cited page Campbell, I. C. "Chiefs, Agitators and the Navy: The Mau in American Samoa, 1920—

7

29." The Journal of Pacific History 44, no. 1 (2009): 41-60. Accessed May 30, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/40346687. Chappell, David A. "The Forgotten Mau: Anti-Navy Protest in American Samoa, 19201935." Pacific Historical Review 69, no. 2 (2000): 217-60. Accessed May 30, 2020. doi:10.2307/3641439. “Disaster in the South Pacific.” West Hunter, October 3, 2014. https://westhunt.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/disaster-in-the-south-pacific/. Lilomaiava-Doktor, Sailiemanu. (2016). Changing morphology of graves and burials in Samoa. Journal of the Polynesian Society. 125. 171-186. 10.15286/jps.125.2.171-186. McLane, John R. “Influenza 1918: the Samoan Experience.” Corpus, November 1, 2018. https://corpus.nz/influenza-1918-the-samoan-experience/. Stout, James. “How American Samoa Kept a Pandemic at Bay: James Stout.” Lapham's Quarterly. Accessed May 30, 2020. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/how-americansamoa-kept-pandemic-bay. Tahana, Jamie. “How NZ Took Influenza to Samoa, Killing a Fifth of Its Population.” RNZ, RNZ, 7 Nov. 2018, www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/375404/how-nz-tookinfluenza-to-samoa-killing-a-fifth-of-its-population....