“Weaving the story of my aiga”: poetics and politics of transmission in Sia Figiel’s Where We Once Belonged
This essay examines Sia Figiel’s postcolonial reimagining of the coming-of-age narrative in her first novel Where We Once Belonged (1996). It contends that through the perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl, the narrative challenges the Samoan cultural transmission of gender roles and identities wi...
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| Wydane w: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/pla, |
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| 1. autor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Język: | Anglais |
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Postcolonial Literatures and Arts
2025
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| Hasła przedmiotowe: | |
| Dostęp online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Streszczenie: | This essay examines Sia Figiel’s postcolonial reimagining of the coming-of-age narrative in her first novel Where We Once Belonged (1996). It contends that through the perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl, the narrative challenges the Samoan cultural transmission of gender roles and identities within and beyond Samoa. Employing weaving as an indigenous storytelling technique, the novel navigates through past and present, delving into themes of gender and cultural identity, collective versus individual subjectivity, and the interplay between Western and Pacific epistemologies. |
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