issues in the samoan community

15
The Dissolution of Fa’asamoa: Challenges Faced by the San Francisco Samoan Community

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Page 1: Issues in the Samoan Community

The Dissolution of Fa’asamoa:

Challenges Faced by the San Francisco Samoan Community

Page 2: Issues in the Samoan Community

Kallen, as cited in Byrne, 2005, p. viii

Fa’asamoa: the Samoan way of life

“It is at once a worldview, a way of life, a cherished heritage, a set of structured principles for ordering social life, a plethora of formidable constraints upon behavior, and an ideological underpinning for strongly positive ethno-cultural identification.”

Page 3: Issues in the Samoan Community

Disproportionate Contact with the Juvenile Justice System

In 1990, Samoan youth in San Francisco were arrested at a rate of:

o 587.5 per 1000 Samoan youth o 325 per 1000 Samoan youtho 208 per 1000 Samoan youth

Page 4: Issues in the Samoan Community
Page 5: Issues in the Samoan Community

Samoan Youth Arrest Rates

1990: 575.5 per 1000 Samoan youth2000: 261 per 1000 Samoan youth Samoan youth experience the highest arrest

rates of any ethnic group in San Francisco, and the second highest in Alameda County

Le, Arifuku, Louis & Krisberg, 2001; Byrne, 2005

Page 6: Issues in the Samoan Community

The Canary in the Coal Mine

What can these statistics tell us about problems within the systems and within the Samoan community?

Page 7: Issues in the Samoan Community

Systemic ProblemsAggregation of the Asian Pacific Islander category

Lack of cultural and linguistic competency

Stereotypes about Samoans

The criminalization of poverty

Page 8: Issues in the Samoan Community

Samoan Enclaves in the City

Page 9: Issues in the Samoan Community

Why do Samoans remain in these enclaves?

Complacency

Low educational achievement

Concentration of Samoans in manual

labor

Persistent intergenerational residence in low income housing

Cultural emphasis on family

Page 10: Issues in the Samoan Community

If Bill Gates was hanging out with thugs…

Bill Gates, 1977

Page 11: Issues in the Samoan Community

The Wilds of the NeighborhoodHaving many delinquent friends is one of the

strongest predictors of a young person’s involvement in delinquent behavior .

Social disorganization theory: the values and norms of the surrounding environment conflict with and often outweigh cultural values and norms learned from home and family life.

Conflict with parents more dependency on peer social network.

Page 12: Issues in the Samoan Community

Youth Identity Crisis

Acting like knuckleheads and making poor decisions.

Repping their heritage without understanding the culture or committing to

its principles.

Stressful environments and peer pressure.

Weakened hold of cultural ties.

Troy Polamalu

Page 13: Issues in the Samoan Community

No More 2x4’s

1st generation

•Disciplines with corporeal punishment

•Successfully transmits language and culture

2nd generation

•Doesn’t want to/can’t use corporeal punishment

•Does not pass on language and culture

3rd generation

•Does not have structure of Samoan culture to live life by or strong sense of self

•Acts out like other kids, although it’s not the Samoan way

Page 14: Issues in the Samoan Community

Hold up…

1. Should Samoans be allowed to discipline their children the way they see fit?

2. What do we do about the conflict between Samoan culture and American culture?

3. Is culture static?

Page 15: Issues in the Samoan Community

Strengths of the Community

The culture and

principles of the Samoan

way

The extended family

The

enclaves