Will the ‘Real’ Samoans Please Stand Up? Issues in Diasporic Samoan Identity

This paper examines the circumstances in which ethnic labels and identities are constructed and the conditions that are producing socio‐cultural divergence within them. Using Samoan identities as an example, it is argued firstly that categories based on descent will not necessarily reflect socio‐cultural realities within them and, secondly, that Samoan identities constructed at various times for particular purposes may have given an impression of ethnic unity which masked considerable internal divergence. Finally, it is argued that it may be increasingly difficult for migrant Samoans to agree on symbols of Samoan identity, much less to agree on whether or not these might be building blocks of a national identity. This fluid reality raises fundamental issues about the significance of the apparently fixed descent categories with which we all routinely work.