Changing Covenants in S amoa? From Brothers and Sisters to Husbands and Wives?

This article explores how in the process of C hristian conversion in S amoa by the L ondon M issionary S ociety, the indigenous sacred covenant between brother and sister was transposed onto the relation between the pastor, his wife, and the congregation. I consider how far V ictorian models of gender and domesticity, based on more individuated modes of personhood and the nuclear family, were promoted by foreign missionaries and whether S amoan people accepted, resisted, and transformed these models. In S amoa, women had assumed powerful statuses as feagaiga ‘covenants’ and as tamasa ‘sacred child’. These ascriptions gave S amoan women sacred power and they were highly esteemed in their families and natal villages. What impact would C hristian conversion have on this high valuation of S amoan women? And how would this transformation impact on S amoan ideas about gender and personhood?