To the Back (I tua/kua)

05/23/08

Samoans refer to direction as either to or from the sea, to or from Apia, or to or from the back of the family compound (reference point is usually the village road). Most activity happens in the back. The back is where people feed animals, throw trash, live, cook, sleep, and do other people things. The front is reserved for guests and is kept looking very nice. The flow of life in Samoa is inevitably to the back.

The sense of personal property or returning “borrowed” items is a rare event. When you lend something it goes one way, to the back where it either never returns, or returns in a different condition, usually broken. Your possession has become “Samoanized”.

This “to the back” way of life is hard for Westerners. We are raised on property rights, returning things in better condition, and returning when finished. I try to accept Samoanization as the way things are. But when the Greek Seasoning my daughter mailed so expensively goes to the back never to return, I swallow hard and try to rationalize that I have added some flavor to Samoan cooking, albeit briefly.