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Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
-
Unit 9

Colonialism and Christianity in the South Pacific

A cross stands in silhouette against a sunset in purple hues.

In this unit (to accompany SAPIENS podcast S6E5), students will learn about colonialism in the South Pacific and Samoa. Students will explore the history of colonialism and examine how both it and the influence of Christianity affected Samoan people and shaped their views toward the anthropologists Margaret Mead and Derek Freeman.

Learning Objectives
  • Outline the history of colonialism in the South Pacific.
  • Examine how colonialism and Christianity shaped how Samoan people view Margaret Mead and Derek Freeman.
Sapiens articles
A person wearing a brown floral shirt, red beaded necklace, and feather in their hair closes their eyes. In a blurred background, other people—one holding a red-and-white STOP sign—gather on a lawn in front of a white building.
essay / Viewpoint

Archaeological Tropes That Perpetuate Colonialism

Nicholas C. Laluk and Joseph Aguilar
Two Indigenous archaeologists from the U.S. Southwest shed light on how “abandonment” and other common archaeological terms continue to cause harm. They offer insights into how to rewrite narratives of the past.
Yardenit Baptismal
essay / Crossroads

How Tourism Reinvented Jesus’ Baptism Site

Sara Toth Stub
Pilgrims and tourists are flocking to a baptismal site in the Holy Land in search of religious experience—and souvenirs.
Keywords
View All in Colonialism
A person dressed in a red Santa Claus suit with white trim kneels on a military runway while speaking into a handheld radio. In the background are two rows of large military airplanes.
essay / Phenomenon

Unwrapping Operation Christmas Drop

Roberto J. González
An anthropologist takes a critical eye to a long-running holiday tradition: a U.S. military mission that drops toys and supplies throughout Micronesia.
An image focuses on two hands of a statue in shadow coming together holding a white flower.
poem / Reflections

Survival Notes

Alma Simba
Black African women in former colonial centers such as London gesture to subversive ways of communicating with those imprisoned in archives across generations.
People walk through a long, wide museum hallway with high arched ceilings and skylights framed by tall tan columns.
op-ed / Viewpoint

Spain’s Move to Decolonize Its Museums Must Continue

Jeannette Plummer Sires
In early 2024, Spain’s culture minister announced that the nation would overhaul its state museum collections, igniting a wave of anticipation—and controversy.
A person wearing a dark blue shirt and a red umbrella hat walks through a lush field of tall green grasses.
op-ed / Counterpoint

It’s Time to Replace “Prehistory” With “Deep History”

Stephen Acabado, Marlon Martin, Piphal Heng, Earl John C. Hernandez, and Mylene Q. Lising
A team of archaeologists working in Southeast Asia is pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives to challenge traditional archaeological timelines.
A line of cattle travel across a dry desert landscape, kicking up dust.
poem / Expressions

An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse

Alma Simba
A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her—but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged.
The ruins of a gray stone building stand below a cerulean sky with fluffy white clouds.
essay / Standpoints

How Colonialism Invented Food Insecurity in West Africa

Anya Gruber
Archaeological evidence and Oral Histories show people in what is today Ghana lived sustainably for millennia—until European colonial powers and the widespread trade of enslaved people changed everything.
View All in Religion
Amid a political rally where red, black, and green colors are prominent, a smiling woman wearing glasses, a khaki shirt, and a black headscarf holds aloft a sketch of a person’s face that says, “Khan Is Hope.”
essay / In Flux

The Rise of Aunties in Pakistani Politics

Sana Malik
Middle-class, conservative women in Pakistan have found a political voice as supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party—putting them at odds with the secular women’s movement their own daughters support.
Clear water streams down moss-covered rocks amid thick, luxurious vegetation with broad tropical leaves and bright red and yellow flowers.
poem / Counterpoint

Coastal Eden

Alma Simba
A poet interrogates the garden of Eden origin story by reimagining it against the backdrop of East Africa’s coastal environment.
With several people around them, a person wearing an olive green headwrap and white long-sleeved shirt cradles a beige cat who is facing the viewer. They are in a building topped with an ornately decorated gold dome.
column / Entanglements

For the Love of Cats in Turkey

Gideon Lasco
On a visit to feline-friendly Turkey, an anthropologist considers what long-standing practices of caring for cats reveal about human societies.
A crowd of people, with several taking pictures on cellphones, surround a damaged structure in a public square. The small building, with its tiling cracked and wooden seating splintered, has a large arrangement of white flowers in front of it.
poem / Identities

At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street

Moh. Faiz Maulana
A poet-anthropologist in Indonesia criticizes extremist militants who use religion to commit violence.
A person wearing a long-sleeved black maxi dress and a red headscarf holding a green umbrella walks on a public street with a silver truck and several people in black hats, helmets, and khaki uniforms in the background.
poem / Reflections

08.03.2019

Sanjna Girish Yechareddy
A poet-anthropologist from India recalls a checkpoint encounter in Sri Lanka, just months after the Easter Sunday bombings.
A crowd watches a parade float shaped like a building with rainbow-colored windows and a heart made of rainbow handprints. Text reads, “justice community equality” and words on a blue roof read, “United Church of Christ, UCC.org/lgbt.” A small sign propped up against the float reads, “Amen. Advocate for Marriage Equality.”
essay / Kinship

Being LGBTQ+ in U.S. Protestant Churches

Benjamin Hollenbach
As homophobic and transphobic rhetoric sweeps the U.S., some churches are increasingly welcoming LGBTQ+ parishioners who participate in religious life and help reconcile Christianity with a spectrum of sexual and gender identities.
Glossary
Colonialism

  1. A practice that has one nation gain physical control and political power over another nation, often for the purpose of extracting resources and labor.

Christianity

  1. A monotheistic religion that follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Religion

  1. A system that follows a specific set of values and beliefs.

Sovereignty

  1. Being independent from anyone else’s influence.

Professor Talking Points
  • The Samoan islands were colonized for many years, with several different nations sharing control of the region. The colonizers included Germany, New Zealand, the United States, and Great Britain. At one time, three nations shared control before splitting Samoa into sections and allowing different nations to rule over those sections. Discuss with students how Samoan culture was influenced by the different nations in these sections.
  • In the 20th century, the nation of Samoa began a nonviolent movement—the Mau Movement—to protest for independence. Despite its beginnings as nonviolent, the movement did turn deadly for some. Explore this topic.
  • Mead talked about the open sexuality of Samoans, and at the time of her fieldwork, custom dictated that the chief’s daughter needed to be a virgin before marriage. But this standard did not necessarily guide the sexual lives of the other young women on the island. Once Christianity gained influence in Samoa, virginity before marriage became important for all women. Lead students in a discussion about how the Christian influence in Samoa shifted cultural and traditional norms.
Academic Articles

  1. Efi, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi. 2015. “Whispers and Vanities in Samoan Indigenous Religious Culture.” Parliament of the World’s Religions, February 15.

  2. Naepi, Sereana, and Marcia Leenen-Young. 2021. “Gathering Pandanus Leaves: Colonization, Internationalization and the Pacific.” Journal of International Students 11 (S1): 15–31.

  3. Salesa, T. Damon. I. 2013. “’Travel-Happy’ Samoa: Colonialism, Samoan Migration and a ‘Brown Pacific.’” New Zealand Journal of History 37 (2): 171–188.

Student Discussion Questions
  • What role did the Mau Movement play in the push for Samoan sovereignty? See Additional Resources for a video on this topic.
  • What were the most pivotal moments during the history of colonialism in the South Pacific?
  • How did the history of colonialism and Christianity influence the Samoan people’s opinion about Mead and Freeman?
  • How did Christianity change Samoan traditions and culture? Compare traditions before and after Christian influence increased.
  • Native Hawaiians have been arguing for their sovereignty from the United States for for decades. Compare similarities between U.S. colonialism in Hawai’i and Samoa.
Activities
  • Create a quiz on the history of colonialism in the South Pacific.
  • Based on “AMERICAN SAMOA: Which Road Ahead?” under Additional Resources, how did colonialism influence American Samoa? How does that differ from what was formerly known as Western Samoa?
  • Create a timeline of colonialism in the South Pacific and incorporate Mead’s and Freeman’s work.
Slides

Infographic: “History of Colonialism in Western Samoa”

Slides: “Colonialism and Christianity in the South Pacific”

Additional Resources

  1. Article: James Bishop’s “AMERICAN SAMOA: Which Road Ahead?”

  2. Documentary: The CoconetTV’s Samoana Documentary

  3. Podcast: Holger Droessler’s Coconut Colonialism: Workers and the Globalization of Samoa

  4. Video: The CoconetTV’s Untold Pacific History: Episode 3. Samoa/N.Z.’s Colonisation of Samoa and the Mau Movement

Unit By

Nadine Rodriguez, Freedom Learning Group

Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
-
Unit 10

Legacies of Colonialism in Samoa

A sepia-toned image of soldiers and men in uniforms, and Samoan men in formal white coats, and women in front in traditional Samoan clothing.