Samoa Law Reform And Legal Pluralism: Critical Challenges to Achieving Legal Recognition of Fa'atama and SOGIEC

• Date: 01 January 2023

Samoa Law Reform a nd Legal Pluralism: Cr itical Challenges

to Achieving Lega l Recognition of Fa’ata ma and SOGIEC

97

SAMOA LAW REFORM AND LEGAL

PLURALISM: CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO

ACHIEVING LEGAL RECOGNITION OF

FA’ATAM A AND SOGIEC

*



In this articl e, I draw attention to Sa moa’s women’s gender quota case s which brought

into question th e legal and const itutional la nguage adopted in la ws, constitu tional

interpretati on, human ri ghts, judici al independen ce of the courts an d rule of law in

conflict with Sa moan customs . What the constit utional case s demonstrate i s a more

modern egalitarian Samoan legal and political system which highlights how this modern

conception of j ustice undermine s the Samoan political a nd legal values that trad itionally

begin with fostering and enhancing fundamental interpersonal relations first, because

it is there that we ob serve the mode rn state or commu nity’s most funda mental values

with respect to the po litico-legal realm. is a rticle argues for a critica l examination of

these ongoing c hallenges and te nsions first before c onsiderin g whether the best pa thway

for recognition of t he status of fa'atama and di verse sexual or ientation, ge nder identit y

expression and se x characteristics (SOGIEC) rep resentation is achiev able in Samoa.

I. Introduction

In Samoa , the indigenou s Samoan s operate a bijura l system of law where both

customa ry law and s tate law co -exist. 1 Samoa has a populat ion of 200,010 people,

with Eng lish an d Samoan a s the ocial l anguages. T he fa’amatai (Chiefly syst em)

acts as the m ain sour ce of Samoa’s custom ary law a nd is enforced i n varyi ng

1 For this a rticle, a ny reference t o “custom ary l aw” is used i ntercha ngeabl y with Sa moa “cust oms”,

“customa ry legal sys tem” and “customa ry practices”; a ny reference to “gender equ ity” is used

intercha ngeably wit h Samoa all Le sbian, Gay, Bisexua l, Transge nder, Queer, Intersex, A sexual

and divers e Sexual O rientation , Gender Identi ty Expres sion and Sex Ch aracter istics (“S OGIEC”)

and “gender di versity”; and l astly, any refer ence to “bijura l” is used int erchangea bly with “lega l

pluralism”.

* Lecturer, AU T Law School. Than ks to Professor A llan Beever for com ments on previous d rafts

of this a rticle. The usu al discla imer applies.

98 [Vol 30, 2023]

degrees acro ss Samoa’s 220 tradition al village s (nu’u fa’avae) governed according to

each vil lage council (fo no) and cust omary practic es.2

This ar ticle explores t he interfac e between Sa moa law reform and le gal

plural ism, with a n emphasis on lega l recognit ion of fa’atam a (“in the ma nner of men”

is the lit eral tra nslation of t he Samoan word fa’at ama: “li ke” (fa’a), a “ man” (tama))

and SOGIEC repr esentation i n the law. As evident i n the experien ce from lega lly

plural istic Paci fic nations outs ide Samoa, law r eform points t o the eectivenes s of

accommodat ing lega l plural ism to enable a s ustai nable pathwa y, where both tensions

in custom ary law and state l aw are reconci led, and customs are i ncorporated and

recogni sed in state law.

Because I express opin ions based on l ived experience a nd observat ions from

recent empiric al resea rch based in Sa moa, it is im porta nt that I refer to my

“position ality ”. The author is a law academ ic who lived and worked i n Samoa as a

law reformer, commerci al law academic, law yer and gender consulta nt.

In terms of s tructu re: Par t II provides an ex planat ion as to why I have chos en

the principa l theories, concepts, cus toms and proc esses under rev iew followed by

a critique of t hese theories; P art III e xamine s the case st udy of Samoa’s women’s

gender quota cas es. It responds to t he analysis from Pa rt II and outlines pot ential

challen ges to address; a nd, fina lly, in Par t IV, I respond to lessons f rom Part I II

in addressi ng what cha llenges lie a head with r espect to fa’a tama a nd SOGIEC

representat ion in Samoa custom s and laws.





In this pa rt, I pres ent a critique of some of t he relevant t heories, concept s,

customs a nd practices at the int ersection between g ender and law.

 

It is well know n in the lit erature t hat unequa l power relations e xist bet ween

men and women. Thi s is often embe dded in terms s uch as “patr iarchy” a nd

“gender inequal ity”. 3 Even when ta king cu ltura l and inst itution al vari ation into

consideration , patriarcha l structures ex ist in social sy stems charact erised by male

2 Jennifer C orrin “Land, L aw and the Fa’a Samoa” [2008] L AWASIA Journal 4 6 at 49–50; and see

generall y Richard P Gi lson Samoa 1830 to 1 900: e Politic s of a Multicultura l Community (Ox ford

Universit y Press, Melbou rne, 1970) at 29.

3 Pamela Pa xton and Melan ie Hughes Women, Politi cs and Power (Sage Publ ications, Cali fornia,

2007).