The island nation of Sāmoa is rich in natural resources and cultural heritage, but it also has a turbulent history of colonisation and occupation by foreign powers, primarily New Zealand and Germany.
Following the Tripartite Convention in 1899, Sāmoa first became a German protectorate. The German administration, while making German an official language and introducing other European systems, sought to retain Sāmoan customs.
At the start of World War One in 1914, New Zealand seized Sāmoa from Germany and administered it until its independence in 1962. During this time further regulations were imposed on Sāmoans, resulting in growing tensions and – at times violent – conflicts. These shared histories have had lasting effects on the relations between the three countries.
This symposium presents current and recent research projects that examine these interconnected relations through various platforms, including museum collections and exhibitions, university research, and the arts. While a lot of this research is focused on the past, we also seek to explore what the future could look like for these relationships.
Attendance is free, please reserve your free ticket. Tea and coffee will be provided.
Afternoon session (1:15-3:45):
1:15-1:30 Welcome Session
1:30-2:15 Adolf Vollbrandt Collection
Charlie Klinge
The Adolf Vollbrandt photography collection, comprising 77 black and white glass negatives, offers a snapshot of colonial Sāmoa at the turn of the 20th century. It captures scenes of Sāmoan and Euro-American encounters and their legacies. Sponsored by Te Papa and the Museum Natur und Mensch in Freiburg, Germany, Charlie Klinge was tasked with undertaking provenance research over three months on a part-time basis, with invaluable support from Safua Akeli Amaama, Sean Mallon, and Athol McCredie. During this talk, Charlie will provide a more detailed account of the process involved in identifying those portrayed, gathering their stories, and presenting them in a way that honours their contributions to Sāmoan society – both historically and in the present. Additionally, she will delve into the intricacies of establishing connections between photographs and discuss the challenges inherent in analysing and interpreting these very connections. The talk will also reflect on what was achieved within the constraints of a brief three-month timeframe and consider how additional time might have enriched the team’s insights
2:15-3:00 Nominal Germanness
Leafa Wilson/Olga Krause
The German occupation of Sāmoa (1900-1914) gave rise to diasporic Germans living in Sāmoa until today. Of all the remaining legacies, nominal Germanness is the longest-surviving remnant, yet appears to have had little to no influence upon Sāmoans’ daily lived practices in Sāmoa or in the diaspora. Leafa Wilson’s work as an artist has loosely explored the nominal presence of Germany. In this paper, she further drills down into gafa (genealogy) and how Germany’s departure from Sāmoa seemed absolute.
3:00-3:45 Sāmoan Multiplicities: Experiences of Sāmoanness via museum collections and exhibitions
Togialelei Dr Safua Akeli Amaama and Dr Annika Sung
The research project ‘Sāmoan Multiplicities: Experiences of Sāmoanness’ is a collaboration between the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. It studies Sāmoan multiplicities past, present and future, hypothesising that Sāmoan identities have been spatially and temporally distributed. By examining different environments and research material, this project offers novel insights into why and how Sāmoanness remains a valid marker of identity underpinned by a set of core values despite historic and ongoing transformations, such as the colonial administration of Germany and Aotearoa New Zealand. In this talk, Dr Safua Akeli Amaama and Dr Annika Sung introduce the project and delve into two of its research foci. The first considers the cultural significance of the Manumea, Sāmoa’s national bird, and the ways in which its endangered status presents opportunities for collaboration between the three countries. The second explores how Sāmoan identities and perspectives have been applied to museum and art exhibitions, particularly inspired by Safua’s recent visits to Germany.
See the morning session here: Shared histories, connected futures: The entangled relationships between Aotearoa New Zealand, Germany and Sāmoa – Morning Session – Friends of Te Papa
Leafa Wilson/ Olga Krause, New Zealand-born Sāmoan (Vaimoso/ Siumu/Fasito’otai), is a Performance Artist/ Painter and independent curator and art writer. Her curatorial career spans over 20 years, independently and as the Waikato Museum art curator from 2004 – 2021. Significant exhibitions include Dolly Mix (W)rapper: 28 Women Artists of Samoan Heritage (2002), Letters to the Ancestors Tuhia Ki Te Rangi (2005) and I Must Learn to Like Myself (2010). Her artistic practice, spanning over 40 years, often includes endurance-based performance art, reiterated motifs and props such as musical instruments, blue tarpaulin, and varying sources of light. She has produced numerous art catalogues and essays independently and in the GLAM sector and judged several national art awards.
Togialelei Dr Safua Akeli Amaama is Head of New Zealand and Pacific Histories and Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Previously, she was director (2018–2020) of the Centre for Sāmoan Studies at the National University of Sāmoa and oversaw three teaching programmes: Sāmoan Language and Culture, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, and Development Studies. Safua has research interests in cultural heritage, gender, governance, health and migration. She has a PhD in History from the University of Queensland, Australia. Her thesis focused on examining Sāmoa-New Zealand relations through key exhibitions from 1923 to 2007.
Dr Annika Sung is a Loans and Acquisitions Advisor and Research Assistant for Pacific Histories and Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She completed her PhD in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka and has curated the exhibition Then and There, Here and Now: Samoan Portraits (2023). Together with Dr Safua Akeli Amaama, she is a team member of the Sāmoan Multiplicities project, which works in collaboration with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany.
Fa’atalofa atu!
My name is Charlie Klinge, and I’m a service designer at Te Tari Taiwhenua in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington). Through my mother, I am connected to the villages of Nofoalil’i and Mulifanua in Upolu, Sāmoa, as well as Scotland. My father’s family hails from Sieboldshausen by Goettingen in Germany, where I was born and raised. Our core family moved to Aotearoa in 2012 to be closer to our maternal ‘aiga, with whom we’ve always been very close. Being in Aotearoa has ignited a deep interest in customary Sāmoan material culture and fāgogo – Sāmoan narratives.
Fa’afetai mo le avanoa.
Image credit: Postcard, ‘German War Flag captured at Samoa by New Zealand Expeditionary Force’, 1914-1916, New Zealand, by William Thompson Wilson. Purchased 2011. Te Papa (GH023107)