The Fa’afafine of Samoa

Fa'afafine at a pageant (Source: Samoan Fa'afafine Association )

 

Across the globe there are various cultures that exist. Many cultural groups may share similarities, but each is unique.  Among non-Western cultural groups there is a common thread in that gender does not exist in a binary.  There are various gender categories, which is simplified in description as a third gender, which is defined as the existence of three or more gender categories.  Among cultural groups within third genders these individuals who are not male or female (within the Western conceptions of male and female) occupy distinct roles and are celebrated for their gender identity and special roles.  Today’s blog post is dedicated to addressing one such gender category that exists among Samoans: the fa’afafine.

 

The fa’afafine are what Western cultural groups would call transwomen, or men who identify as women.  Not much is known about the history of fa’afafine among Samoans due to Christian missionaries attempts to suppress and erase fa’afafine and other third gender people from Samoan culture.  This means that the history of fa’afafine (and fa’afatama, transgender men) is imprecisely known.  Therefore, what will be presented herein is the modern conceptions of what it means to be fa’afafine.

 

In Samoan culture there are four gender categories: female, male, fa’afafine, and fa’afatama. Fa’afafine and fa’afatama are individuals who occupy the gender roles outside of their born sex.  Some define this occupation as permanent, while others claim this is fluid, meaning individuals can and do move between male and female roles.  A great deal of contemporary study has been completed on fa’afafine, with less on fa’afatama.  Early scholarship promoted various misconceptions about what it means to be fa’afafine, in large part due to Western biases against third gender people.  Some assertions that are no longer accepted include the notion that parents would choose which of their sons would become fa’afafine in order to garner greater status or make up for not having enough daughters.  This is not supported by any evidence.  Boys and young men are recognized as potentially being fa’afafine, but these individuals have to self-identify and transition as they feel comfortable.

 

Today, the fa’afafine occupy special roles within Samoan societies.  They are individuals who are responsible for taking care of the elderly.  They also occupy roles as sex education and sexual health educators.  This is because these are taboo topics that cannot be addressed by men or women, allowing individuals who occupy both or neither role the responsibility of discussing them.  Fa’afafine today are celebrated for who they are and what they do.  They participate in various pageants, similar the Drag Pageants that exist in the Western world, and many times the proceeds from these pageants go toward paying for elderly care.  Additionally, these pageants act as reclamations of a Samoan tradition that had been suppressed by Christian missionaries: the taupou.  Traditionally, the taupou was a ceremonial hostess selected by the village’s high chief, and the taupou not only represented the village but entertained visitors.  This was a prestigious role for the chosen individual that fell out of favor as Christianity spread throughout the Samoans.  The fa’afafine have brought it back as a means of celebrating their gender identities and cultural roots.

 

While the Fa’afafine are celebrated today they were cast out of Samoan society throughout the 1950s into the 1970s.  This led to them being demonized as sexual deviants as they were characterized as sex workers and thieves.  As cultural norms reverted back to strong traditional Samoan values the value of the fa’afafine reverted back to one of celebration and appreciation.  Despite the challenges that the fa’afafine have and continue to face in some places their continued existence speaks to their resilience, as well as the resilience of Samoan culture as a whole. 

 

Works Cited

ABC/Cinemedia. "Fa'afafine - Samoan boys brought up as girls." 2005. Charting the Pacific. https://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/people/hazy.htm. 6 April 2025.

Natural History Museum. "Beyond Gender: Indigenous Perspectives, Fa’afafine and Fa’afatama ." 1 September 2020. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. https://nhm.org/stories/beyond-gender-indigenous-perspectives-faafafine-and-faafatama. 6 April 2025.

Schoeffel, Penelope. "Representing Fa ‘afafine." Gender on the edge: Transgender, gay, and other Pacific Islanders (2014): 73.

Utopia Washington. "60 Years of Fa’afafine History: A Timeline of Herstory Makers & Events surrounding Them in American Samoa." 14 June 2022. Utopia Washington. https://utopiawa.org/60-years-of-faafafine-history-a-timeline-of-herstory-makers-events-surrounding-them-in-american-samoa/. 4 April 2025.

Vasey, Paul L., and Nancy H. Bartlett. "What can the Samoan" Fa'afafine" teach us about the Western concept of gender identity disorder in childhood?." Perspectives in biology and medicine 50.4 (2007): 481-490.

 

Homosexuality among the Aztecs?

Indigenous populations throughout the Americas had thriving cultures and lives before European conquest.  They had a range of societal types, ranging from foraging to state level societies.  In addition, each group had their own languages, belief systems, subsistence strategies, social systems, and more.  Examples of this brilliance is present at Cahokia and among the Ancestral Puebloans, Maya, Olmec, the Chinchorro, and many other Indigenous American populations throughout time and space.

 

These people were not the godless heathens that European conquerors made them out to be.  This narrative was promoted by the Spanish Conquistadors as justification for conquering and controlling Indigenous American populations.  One of their base accusations that “validated” the Spanish Conquest was that Indigenous populations were sodomites living in sin.  The Spaniards claimed Indigenous populations were accepting and supporting sinful behaviors, including but not limited to homosexuality and sex work, and therefore these populations needed to be beaten into submission to live a sin-free life.  The Spanish were successful in their mission, going forth and wiping out Indigenous ways of life by burning their records, temples, and more, and forcibly converting and assimilating Indigenous populations to Catholicism and Spanish/European ways of life.

 

It is within these frameworks that creates a situation where it is difficult to accurately assess what Indigenous people’s lives were prior to conquest.  While some evidence does exist they are often interpreted through contemporary lenses, not necessarily from the perspectives of the Indigenous populations themselves.  Furthermore, much that has been written about Indigenous populations at the time of Conquest was written by individual who were strongly influenced by the Spanish, leading to a Spaniard-bias when interpreting Indigenous ways of life.  With this in mind this blog post will address the topic of whether or not homosexuality existed within the Aztec culture and to what extent it was accepted or not.

 

The Aztecs, or as they called themselves the Mexica, maintained a massive state level society.  Its capital is currently under the modern-day site of Mexico City, and the Mexica’s territory covered much of modern-day Central America.  There is much known about the Mexica due to archaeological analyses of their material culture and the Spaniard accounts of their lives during the Conquest.  One such text, the Florentine Codex, was written by Friar Bernadino de Sahagún, a Catholic clergyman who worked closely with the Mexica and other Náhua people.  He also learned their language and formed a rudimentary dictionary of several of their words. 

 

Some of these words included those associated with homosexuality and gender, including transgender identity.  Sahagún reported at least three words, which include xochihua, cuiloni, and patlachuia or patlache, that fall within these categories.  He provided translations of the Náhua words based on his Spanish worldviews, leading to some potential bias and inaccuracies within the interpretations he provided.  Xochihua has been interpreted as either meaning a transwoman or homosexual male. Cuiloni is interpreted as mean a transwoman, although it could also be a slur against effeminate homosexual men.  Patlachuia or patlache can mean either a transman or a homosexual woman.

 

Within Sahagún’s view and interpretations none of these words were positive or favorable.  He provided very vulgar and offensive analogies of what he thought the associated concepts of homosexuality and transgender identity meant among the Aztec/Mexica/Náhua worldview.  This complicates understanding and interpreting the values and beliefs of homosexuality and transgender identity among Central American populations.  What is clear is that homosexuality and transgender individuals did exist among these populations.  What is unclear is if they were taboo, tolerated, or celebrated.  Scholars are unable to agree on this matter. The very existence of homosexuality and transgender identities, however, demonstrates that these are phenomenon that have existed for far longer than some believe.

 

Bibliography

Garcia, F. (2020). Exploring the Colonization of Mexico by the Spaniards: Homophobia in the Mexican Community through the Catholic Church. Davis: University of California.

Gontijo, F., Arisi, B., & Fernandes, E. (2021). Mesoamerica. Queer natives in Latin America: Forbidden chapters of colonial history, 9-23.

Sigal, P. (2002). Gender, male homosexuality, and power in colonial Yucatan. Latin American Perspectives, 24-40.

Wawzonek, J. J. (2017). Sodomitical Butterflies: Male Homosexual Desire in Colonial Latin America. Mount Royal Undergraduate Humanities Review (MRUHR), 98-114.

 

Anthropologist Profile: Deandre Miles-Hercules, Linguistic (Anthropology) Doctoral Student

deandre miles-hercules (Photo by Mariah Webber)

 

There have been several Anthropologist Profiles on this blog, and the vast majority focus on individuals with terminal degrees working either within or outside of academia.  There have been very few that have spotlighted up and coming anthropologists at the student level.  Typically, students are seldom featured because they are focusing on their studies, developing and honing the skills to become notable anthropologists in their own right.  There are, however, students who maintain the delicate balance between learning and performing scholarship, which is when they become eligible to be featured herein.  University of California, Santa Barbara linguistics doctoral student deandre miles-hercules (they/them) is one such individual who has beyond earned such recognition.

 

Hailing from Price George’s County in Maryland deandre has established theirself as an integral part of the anthropological community.  They earned their Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University with specializations in linguistics, anthropology, and African American Studies.  Deandre followed up their B.A. with a Masters of Arts in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  They are currently continuing their doctoral education in linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Their research, which focuses on language, power, culture, and identity within Black, femme, queer, and trans communities, is funded in part through the National Science Foundation. 

 

Deandre has an amazing educational pedigree, which is complemented by their numerous awards and accolades.  During their tenure at Emory they earned several accolades, including the Award for Excellence in the Study of Linguistics and the Modupe Dayo Civic Engagement Award.  They have also published numerous pieces in various prestigious journals, including the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality (2022), Pedagogy, and Gender and Language.

 

Service is also an important part of deandre’s resume.  They have completed the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, National Science Foundation REU program, and Smithsonian Science Education Center internship.  They also recently served as a graduate mentor for the UCSB-HBCU Scholars in Linguistics Program.  Currently, deandre serves in various executive positions with the Linguistic Society of America’s OMBUDS Committee and Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics, in addition to being a Member at Large for the Association of Black Anthropologists’ Executive Board.

 

In addition to all of these activities deandre makes time to serve as an expert consultant for various news outlets and magazines, including Vox, Yahoo, and Vice News.  Their public anthropological work is featured in various outlets, and they also advocate on behalf of the LGBTQIA+ community, including speaking on the matter of Alpha Phi Alpha considering a ban of transgender members.  This advocacy more than likely stems from their belief “that education is freedomwork and they strive resolutely to examine, expand, and sharpen our tools for living freely and combating inequality,” a statement this blog author wholeheartedly agrees with.

 

Works Cited

Anderson, T. (2024, July 11). GLAAD EXCLUSIVE: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Considers Transgender Ban. Retrieved from GLAAD: https://glaad.org/glaad-exclusive-alpha-phi-alpha-fraternity-considers-transgender-ban/

Association of Black Anthropologists. (N.D.). ABA Executive Board. Retrieved from Association of Black Anthropologists: https://aba.americananthro.org/

Miles-Hercules, D. (N.D.). Doctoral Student: Deandre Miles-Hercules. Retrieved from Stanford Graduate School of Education: Black Academic Development Lab: https://badlab.stanford.edu/people/deandre-miles-hercules