I'm half Samoan,do you Samoans or half Samoans think Afakasi is a derogatory term or just a description of you

Answer 1

i'm samoan. full.....but my daughter is afakasi. i don't really think of it as a derogatory term. and i don't think most samoans do either. its just a word to describe what ethnicity u are. saying your afakasi just tells people u have more than 1 ethnicity. at least thats the way i look at it. but i can also understand how that could be hurtful also. u can either look at it as a positive or a negative. for me i'd wanna feel proud of all my nationalities.

Answer 2

As we know, the word ‘afakasi’ is used in Samoa to classify those who have one Samoan parent and one palagi parent.
I had always thought that half-caste was simply a term to describe my background, until I used it at school in Australia. My teacher and the other students looked shocked when I referred to myself as a half-caste. The teacher asked if I wasn’t offended by the term and I just shrugged and answered that I was used to being called half-caste. From them, I learned to dislike the term and its Samoan version, afakasi. I discovered that it is a racial slur that has worked its way into casual, acceptable use in today’s society. In the UK it is still widely seen as an insult. (The term “mixed race” is more commonly used.)

The term refers to the caste system where members within a society are separated by social distinction. The reason I bring it up today is how the word afakasi may have originated. It came from a European word so they would have used the term first. It then makes me wonder if perhaps from early-European perspective, a child from a European and Samoan union had only half a claim to their caste, hence being half-caste. Could Samoans have been considered to be of a lower (or no) caste?

If being half-caste had originated from a Samoan concept, why then do we use more specific racial reference for those not of European (or simply palagi) descent? Eg, They would instead be afa Saina (half-Chinese), afa Initia (half Indian), afa Alapi (half Arab), afa Fiti (half Fijian), etc. but not afakasi.

Just something to think about.
Also if there was a word to replace ‘afakasi’, what would you suggest it be?
(P.S also directed to Tongans and how they feel about 'hafekasi'.)

Answer 3

I m half Samoan and half Italian. Truthfully, in my heart my entire life I ve kinda felt the Italian side can take a hike. No pride there. Even though I was brought up in white culture here in the States I m much more proud of the Samoan side even though unfortunately I don t know much about the culture. I m extremely strong in the weight room though. I ve never heard that term in my entire life. Never been called afakasi . I try to show love to all Polynesian people whether they re from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, even Micronesia although strangely enough a Micronesian guy much smaller than me wanted to fight me once cause he took offense to me referring to him as Polynesian and.or Pacific islander. which for the life of me I still don t understand lol

Answer 4

I'm not Samoan, but I'm fascinated with the culture - what does the term mean?

Answer 5

What is an afakasi? and does it really matter! I think Samoans are cool and play really good rugby!

Answer 6

Yeah, maybe. Fat right? Marcellus threw him out of 7 storey building for giving his wife a foot massage(!)

Answer 7

What is an Afakasi?

Incidentally, I am British.

Answer 8

description but you could also use it in a mean way depends on how you use it