New Rituals For Old: Change And Competition In Samoa

Abstract

In precontact Samoa, extended families, aiga, and villages, nu'u, demonstrated their social and political cohesion in periodic, competitive displays of conspicuous consumption, hospitality, and in warfare. Demonstrations of economic capacity and military superiority increased their sociopolitical capital and established, or maintained, their claims to social and political power. These
competitive rituals were central features of precontact social organization: the fa'asamoa.