Tala Mai Fafo: (Re)Learning from the voices of Pacific women

Abstract

This paper examines a selection of narrative accounts of mainly Samoan women from across time and space. Education as a process of change, and its effects on personal identity and culture, is examined via a socio-historical approach that also includes the application of several theoretical concepts from analytic philosopher of education, J.R. Martin. The main question that guides this paper is: What does formal education mean to Pacific people – particularly Pacific women? The findings shape the response to the secondary question of: What are the discernible differences across time and space, in terms of the meaning of education for Pacific women?