Samoan ‘Malaga’ — Traveling to See, Represent & Reaffirm Family
By: Tourism Geographic Editor
Tags: Culture, Relationships, Tradition, Tourism, Travel

Samoan ‘Malaga’

For the Samoans who participated in our study, modern ‘tourism’ is considered a palagi concept. They feel that the word ‘tourism’ does not capture the range of activities, meanings, and motivations that describe why they travel.

Instead, Samoan’s suggest that a better expression is found in the Samoan word, malaga.

Malaga has various meanings including ‘movement’, ‘travel back and forth’, and ‘migration’. It is also the polite alternative for alu (go) and sau (come), which refers to both visiting and returning with no set time duration.

In Samoa, the word malaga is used to represent travel to and from diverse social spaces and places (va) to pay respect and to demonstrate and maintain kin relationships. This is undertaken through both domestic and international travel.

Malaga thus challenges conventional Western understandings of tourism as mostly leisure-based, as well as Western understandings of migration as unidirectional and permanent.

There is a significant amount of mobility among Samoan residents. Almost three in five Samoans have traveled internationally, and four in five Samoans have traveled domestically beyond their island.

While many travel for education and business purposes, the most common motivation is to visit friends and relatives (VFR). However, they practice a specific type of VFR — fa’alavelave (traditional obligations).

Fa’alavelave is typically centered on special events, such as village chief installations, weddings, funerals, christenings, significant birthdays, and extended family reunions. The most recreational and enjoyable forms of fa’alavelave are weddings and birthdays.

Samoa Ava Ceremony — by pbkwee (Flickr.com cc-by)

International travel of this sort is often sponsored by extended family and diaspora organizations. Older Samoans, who often have more time to travel, are more likely to attend a fa’alavelave event.

In Samoan society, the elderly are highly respected. Their participation in traditional obligations is given high significance, both from the receiving kin and the extended family they represent.

The ability of older Samoans to travel, however, also depends to some extent on the inability of younger Samoans to travel. Because younger Samoans cannot always get away from work, they will often pay for their older relatives to represent their families.

The Samoan malaga VFR trips are about establishing, reaffirming, maintaining, and expanding familial bonds. But they are also a recognition that these peoples are coming from the same place, or ‘land’.

Land for Pacific Islanders, and in this case Samoans, is the center of their collective identity. It is the source of their genealogical roots and defines their roles, responsibilities, and heritage, both individually and collectively.

Family is what drives this sense of identity. As such, their travel and mobility are almost entirely viewed and defined from this perspective.

The Samoan case demonstrates how local communities in traditional societies in the developing world often have had a high degree of travel and mobility.

How and why they travel is just not what is traditionally thought of as ‘tourism’ in more developed economies, where traditional obligations are generally much weaker.

Although they vary from one culture to the next, family bonds are universal. And a better understanding of this form of travel provides considerable insight into the nature of human mobility across the planet.