Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 14
Reading Sia Figiel
In this unit (to accompany SAPIENS podcast S6E7), students will learn about the significance of Sia Figiel and her writing. Students will consider how her writings empower marginalized voices and seek to help girls reclaim their lives. Students will discuss and compare the significant themes in Figiel’s books, including, but not limited to, gender, power, and culture.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate how Sia’s work challenges existing narratives and empowers marginalized voices.
- Compare the significant themes in Sia’s books, including gender, power, culture, identity, sexuality, colonialism, and coming-of-age experiences.
Sapiens articles
Preserving the Voices of the Antioch Colony
Archaeologists are working with descendants to preserve the history of a community in Texas formed by Black freedmen and women after the Civil War.
What Is Freedom in a Brazilian Favela?
In a new book, Minoritarian Liberalism, an anthropologist explores how favela residents of Rio de Janeiro create their own versions of liberty—even under conditions of violence, poverty, and marginalization.
Keywords
View All in Memory
![In a brick-covered public square surrounded by buildings, a metal statue features two people with flattened fronts and their hands extended sideways facing each other. They stand on opposite sides of a gap in the rounded brick hill they are built on.]()
![Several pink stemless flowers surrounded by white dust and yellow particles float in mid-air against a black background.]()
![A black-and-white film still features a person wearing a hoodie, clear vest, and cap looks upward at the face of a person holding small objects in front of them with a gloved hand. The two are on rocky terrain in front of a graffiti-covered stone wall.]()
![A photograph features a large green grassy field with a large mountain, blue skies, and few white clouds in a distant background.]()
![An underwater scene features statues of people standing in a circle with adjacent figures shackled together by the wrists. They are facing outward and holding hands.]()
![A photograph features dark river water out of which grow tall trees that are sparse with leaves.]()
Dismantling the Walls in Our Heads
The Berlin Wall fell more than three decades ago—but political, social, and economic divides between East and West Germany continue to reverberate, even among those born after Reunification.
To Wear the Wind
A tribal scholar from the state of Nagaland in India engages with the loss of traditional cultural practices and locates the creation of a new world order where the “natural” is increasingly isolated from the “human.”
Excavating a 19th-Century Detroit Saloon
A filmmaker highlights the work of urban archaeologists who are excavating the site of a woman-owned business that opened in the late 1800s.
Apparition in Sugarland
A poet-anthropologist evokes a popular myth that speaks to the repercussions of—and possibilities of repair from—U.S. violence in the Philippines during colonialism.
A Birth and a Death—a Haunting of Igbo Landing
A Ghanian American poet-anthropologist crafts her own African diasporic and Indigenous identity through weaving herself into a famous story of African resistance and survival.
The Woods Lament For Me
Poet-anthropologist Jason Vasser-Elong revitalizes stories of interwoven lineages of his African-descent ancestors and those who were Native American.
View All in Emotions
![A smiling girl with shoulder-length brown hair in a black T-shirt and gray leggings sits on a wooden table in a grassy park and hugs a stuffed animal wrapped in a pink and white blanket.]()
![A close-up image features two spiders on a stick held horizontally in the hands of a child whose face appears slightly blurred in the background.]()
![A photograph features a landscape lush with green grass with a body of water in the center and a large mountain range in the background. The mountain range is cut in half by a valley and topped with a sky full of white clouds.]()
![A photograph taken from under a large building’s awning looks out to show a fountain with green and red tress lining either side. The building’s stone pillars line the foreground.]()
![A human figure with a large white cloth draped over them stands in a long, dark corridor lined with windows on one side.]()
![A photograph features a landscape with a large body of blue water in the foreground encircled by trees, small homes, and a few roads. The hills on which the latter sit ascend into mountains in the distance against blue skies.]()
Raising My Children in an Ableist World
In a new book, an anthropologist and father of three, including a daughter with Down syndrome, reflects on the pressures of parenting.
What Spider Games Say About Arachnophobia
Many people around the world fear spiders. But in the Philippines, the tradition of spider wrestling often brings people and arachnids in close proximity.
A Love Letter to the Munay-Ki
A poet exuberantly gives thanks for the Munay-Ki rites enlivened across the ages and shared by the Q’ero people in the Peruvian Andes.
When I See Spring in Your Eyes/yeli bU’ vuċh canen Ạċhen mnz nō bhar
A poet-anthropologist from Indian-occupied Kashmir speaks of hope as inherited through memories of resilience in the past and present.
What It Means to be Human in an Asylum
A sociocultural anthropologist from Pakistan speaks to how women in asylums in a patriarchal culture are in a battle between their realities and their lost dreams. Yet those dreams offer hope for tomorrow.
a love letter to my qáqnaʔ
A sqilxʷ poet and artist who currently lives in Mohkínstsis, Treaty 7 in Canada speaks to their grandmother of longing and connection, wanting to wake up the medicine she planted within.
View All in Colonialism
![In the foreground, four people wear sombreros and ride on horseback. Three of them carry U.S. and Mexican flags while looking up and gesturing toward a helicopter overhead. A crowd of people walk in front of them.]()
![Several pink stemless flowers surrounded by white dust and yellow particles float in mid-air against a black background.]()
![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.]()
![Two people in uniforms—one in black, the other in tan—wearing black boots and hats topped with matching fans face each other and kick one leg up, their feet traveling above their heads. Other people in uniform stand at attention along the roadside behind them.]()
![In a sepia-and-white color palette, two hands cup a pile of sand, much of which is falling between the fingers.]()
![A close-up image features a mostly red, woven piece of cloth with diagonal patterns that incorporate white, black, green, and hot pink accents.]()
I Was Penalized for Learning a Language at Home
A researcher explains why the Fulbright-Hays fellowship should change its rules that have kept native and heritage speakers from working where their languages are spoken.
To Wear the Wind
A tribal scholar from the state of Nagaland in India engages with the loss of traditional cultural practices and locates the creation of a new world order where the “natural” is increasingly isolated from the “human.”
Archaeological Tropes That Perpetuate Colonialism
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.
Imagining Other Worlds at the India-Pakistan Border
For decades, soldiers at the border between Attari, India, and Wagah, Pakistan, have staged an elaborate ceremony for onlookers. An anthropologist reflects on the ceremony as a legacy of Partition—and imagines other futures for the two nations.
Cold Hubris and Fundo
A poet-historian reflects on the legacy of colonial-era collecting practices in Tanzania that tore Black Indigenous ancestors from their communities and history.
Feeling What We Are/A’yel jtaleltik
An anthropologist and writer from the Tseltal community speaks back to a colonialist history of suppression—instead claiming his identity, language, and people.
Glossary
Marginalized
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A group or person treated as insignificant.
Sia Figiel
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(born 1967) An award-winning Samoan novelist, playwright, and poet.
Professor Talking Points
- Figiel is a Samoan novelist, poet, and playwright. She has written several novels, and her books have been praised for her use of traditional Samoan storytelling techniques. One of her most noteworthy works is her 1996 novel Where We Once Belonged, which won the Commonwealth Prize. Figiel’s work is a source of empowerment for marginalized girls and women and serves to offer a voice to those often overlooked.
- Figiel’s novels explore several major themes that help the reader understand culture and allow a glimpse into Polynesian and Samoan culture. Figiel’s writing often reflects some of her own experiences of her Samoan culture. Some of the biggest themes explored in Figiel’s different works include gender, power, sexuality, identity, colonialism, and coming-of-age experiences.
- The novel Where We Once Belonged explores these major themes and also works as a counter to Margaret Mead’s famous book Coming of Age in Samoa. In Figiel’s novel, Samoa is portrayed as a deeply restrictive patriarchal society, directly in contrast to the paradise of unrestricted freedom that Mead portrayed. The story follows Alofa Filiga, a young girl growing up in the village of Malafou. The narrative follows Alofa as she comes up against the many restrictions of her culture and society, works to come to terms with her womanhood, and searches for her identity while facing the restrictions put on her. The novel encompasses the coming-of-age experience of Alofa and the challenges and setbacks she faces in attempting to exert herself from the expectations placed upon her and claim her identity.
- While Where We Once Belonged is Figiel’s most well-known work, the author has several novels that give readers an opportunity to explore and understand Samoan culture and coming-of-age in Samoa through her characters.
Academic Articles
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Abubakar, Sadiya. “The Samoan Side: How Sia Figiel Debunks Orientalism in Where We Once Belonged.” International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 14, no. 2 (2018): 105-120.
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Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. 2007. “The Long and Leisurely Route: Coming of Age in Europe Today.” Current History 106, no. 698 (2007): 130-136.
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Borzekowski, Dina. 2006. “Adolescents’ Use of the Internet: a Controversial, Coming-of-Age Resource.” Adolescence Medicine Clinic 17, no. 1 (2006): 205-216.
Student Discussion Questions
- How does Figiel’s work give voice to marginalized girls and women?
- In what ways do society and culture inhibit marginalized people?
- In what ways does your society and culture empower marginalized voices? What can be done to improve this?
- What is the difference between gender and sex?
- How are coming-of-age experiences related to sexuality?
- What are the significant themes in Figiel’s work? What does each mean, and why is it important?
Activities
- Take five minutes to jot down a few things about yourself and your identity. As you think about these pieces of your identity, consider how they fit into all aspects of you as a person and throughout your life. In three to five pages, reflect on your identity characteristics and how they define you as a person in the culture of which you are a part. Consider the themes from Figiel’s books and how identity is developed through culture as you write your response.
- Choose three poems from the collection Girl in the Moon Circle by Figiel and identify the different aspects of culture in each poem. Write a paper comparing the various cultural elements and discuss the importance of each one in terms of identity.
- With a partner, evaluate one of Figiel’s famous writings and demonstrate how her work provides a voice and empowers those in marginalized groups. Use examples from the chosen writing and outside sources to support your response.
- Think about your own experience of becoming an adult. Write a paper discussing your experience as it relates to the major themes that emerge in Figiel’s work (e.g., identity, gender, power).
- Watch “An Exploration of Coming of Age Rituals & Rites of Passage in a Modern Era” in “Additional Resources” and create your own coming-of-age ritual. Be sure to include all elements from the video, including the life skills you would test, the character traits you would instill, and the wisdom you would share. Lastly, how will you end your ritual?
Additional Resources
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Book: Sia Figiel’s Freelove
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Book: Sia Figiel’s The Girl in the Moon Circle
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Book: Sia Figiel’s They Who Do Not Grieve
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Book: Sia Figiel’s Where We Once Belonged
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Film: Kimberlee Bassford’s “I of the Water”
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Video: Ron Fritz’s TEDxTalks “An Exploration of Coming of Age Rituals & Rites of Passage in a Modern Era”
Unit By
Chelsea Wheeler, Freedom Learning Group
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 15
Intercultural Understanding
