Malu tatau: Rite of passage for women’s empowerment

Agapetos Aia-Fa’aleava; Vaoiva Natapu-Ponton

doi:10.1386/9781835951590_32

Malu tatau: Rite of passage for women’s empowerment

Authors: Agapetos Aia-Fa’aleava¹, Vaoiva Natapu-Ponton²
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¹ Queensland University of Technology ² Griffith University
Source: Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting , pp 429-445
Publication Date: September 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835951590_32
Language: English

Pasifika women have long occupied a hybrid space, openly navigating the tensions and opportunities of their Pasifika culture and Western society. In her mixed media piece, Walking the Wall (2014), audiovisual and performance artist Angela Tiatia highlighted how these tensions are brought into focus through the embodiment of culture on the female form. Sharing her own experiences as a model, Tiatia juxtaposed the sacred ceremonial attitudes towards the malu (traditional tattoo for Samoan women) with the ‘openness’ of the modelling profession. Tiatia shares how her choice to ‘show off’ her malu was ridiculed by men whose own cultural markings (the pe’a) were comparatively acceptably ‘exposed’ within public settings. Recent events in Brisbane, Australia have also highlighted how Pasifika women continue to feel the adverse effects of liminal attitudes towards cultural markings. Several women were refused entry into local venues for wearing facial tatau, their rejection validated by blanket policies that discredit the value of cultural markings. In an effort to interrogate and reframe these emergent tensions, this chapter gathers and showcases the narratives of Pasifika women whose embodied experiences of cultural tatau challenge patriarchal and colonial perspectives of cultural markings. In drawing inspiration from storytellers such as Tiatia, the chapter seeks to enhance public and academic understanding to build confidence and security among Pasifika women. Further, through the use of Pasifika methodologies, such as talanoa, the chapter employs ethical research practices that recognize and respect the sociocultural importance of Pasifika values and beliefs.

Keywords: Angela Tiatia ; colonization ; cultural markings ; malu/pe’a ; Pasifika women in Australia ; Samoan tatau

Hardback ISBN: 9781835951590

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Malu tatau: Rite of passage for women’s empowerment

Intellect , 429 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835951590_32

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References

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Tiatia, A. (2014), Walking the Wall, installation, National Gallery of Victoria, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/118149. Accessed 2 June 2023.
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[Google Scholar]
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[Google Scholar]
Baker, J. (2014), ‘The one and the many: Church-centered innovations in a Papua New Guinea community’, Current Anthropology, 55:Supp 10, pp. S172–871.
[Google Scholar]
Braidotti, R. (2022), Posthuman Feminism, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (2008), Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Duras, M. (writer-director) (1972), Nathalie Granger, France: Moullet et Cie.
Fairbairn-Dunlop, P. (2014), ‘The interface of Pacific and other knowledge in a supplementary education site’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 44, pp. 874–94.
[Google Scholar]
Faris, H. J. (2021), ‘Gestures of survivance: Angela Tiatia’s Lic and feminist environmental performance arts in Oceania’, Pacific Arts: The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association, 20:1, https://doi.org/10.5070/PC220153303.
[Google Scholar]
Figiel, S. (1996a), Where We Once Belonged, Los Angeles: Kaya Press.
Figiel, S. (1999b), They Who Do Not Grieve, Los Angeles: Kaya Press.
Flaherty, F. H. (writer-director) (1926), Moana, writers Robert J. Flaherty, Julian Johnson. United States: Paramount Pictures.
Gerace, G., Itaoui, R., Moors-Mailei, A., Williams, B., Patu, P. and Ponton, V. (2023), Pasifika Communities in Australia: 2021 Census, Sydney: Centre for Western Sydney, https://doi.org/10.26183/9qbb-cy24.
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[Google Scholar]
Griffen, A. Maka, L., Adimaimalaga, T. and Tohiana, B. (2015), Lalanga Pasifika Weaving the Pacific: Stories of Empowerment from the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.
hooks, b. (2009), Belonging: A Culture of Place, London: Routledge.
Inside Edition (2022), ‘Māori woman face tattoo is to anchor primetime news’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZccNjWtJVhc. Accessed 2 June 2023.
Kaplan, A. (1983), Women & Film, London: Methuen.
Krämer, A. (1994), The Samoa Islands: Material Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Mallon, S. and Galliot, S. (2018), Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Mandal, K. C. (2013), ‘Concept and types of women empowerment’, International Forum of Teaching and Studies, 9, pp. 17–30.
[Google Scholar]
Meleisea M., Schoeffel M. P., Leatio’o, K., Fitizemanu, T., Peseta S., Sio, G. and Tavale, P. F. T. (1987), ‘Christianity’, in M. Meleisea (ed.), Lagaga: A Short History of Western Samoa, Honiara: University of the South Pacific, pp. 52–72.
[Google Scholar]
Merriam, S. B., Johnson-Bailey, J., Lee, M. Y., Kee, Y., Ntseane, G. and Muhamad, M. (2001), ‘Power and positionality: Negotiating insider/ outsider status within and across cultures’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 5, p. 405.
[Google Scholar]
Naepi, S. (2015), ‘Navigating the currents of Kaupapa Māori and pan-Pacific research methodologies in Aotearoa New Zealand’, MAI Journal, 4:1, pp. 70–84.
[Google Scholar]
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Nicols, B. (1991), Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Perelini, M. V. (2003), ‘Liberating the Samoan female body in the novels of Sia Figiel: An insider perspective’, master’s thesis, Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
[Google Scholar]
Ponton, V. (2018), ‘Utilizing Pacific Methodologies as Inclusive Practice’, Sage Open, 8:3, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018792962.
[Google Scholar]
Sahay, S. (1998), Women and Empowerment: Approaches and Strategies, New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.
Schmidt, J. (2016), ‘Being “like a woman”: Fa’afāfine and Samoan masculinity’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 17:3–4, pp. 287–304.
[Google Scholar]
Semenyna, S. W. and Vasey, P. L. (2018), ‘Striving for prestige in Samoa: A comparison of men, women, and fa’afafine’, Journal of Homosexuality, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1503461.
[Google Scholar]
Tiatia, A. (2014), Walking the Wall, installation, National Gallery of Victoria, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/118149. Accessed 2 June 2023.
Wendt, A. (1999), ‘Afterword: Tatauing the post-colonial body’, in V. Hereniko and R. Wilson (eds), Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
[Google Scholar]
Wynne-Jones, V. (2021), ‘Walking the Wall and crossing the threshold: Angela Tiatia, Kalisolaite ‘Uhila and Shigeyuki Kihara’s counter-hegemonic choreographies’, in Choreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Art: New World Choreographies, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 205–32.
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[ref-mixed-citation-774] ABC News Australia (2022), ‘Veteran New Zealand broadcaster on breaking barriers and preserving culture’, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO9oRmCOcCU. Accessed 2 June 2023.

[ref-mixed-citation-775] Aia-Fa’aleava, A. A. (2024), ‘One tatau, two worlds: Unexplored stories of non-Indigenous Samoan women and Indigenous Samoan fa’afafine with the Samoan malu’, Ph.D. thesis, Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-776] Baker, J. (2014), ‘The one and the many: Church-centered innovations in a Papua New Guinea community’, Current Anthropology, 55:Supp 10, pp. S172–871.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-777] Braidotti, R. (2022), Posthuman Feminism, Cambridge: Polity Press.

[ref-mixed-citation-778] Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (2008), Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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[ref-mixed-citation-781] Faris, H. J. (2021), ‘Gestures of survivance: Angela Tiatia’s Lic and feminist environmental performance arts in Oceania’, Pacific Arts: The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association, 20:1, https://doi.org/10.5070/PC220153303.
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[ref-mixed-citation-785] Gerace, G., Itaoui, R., Moors-Mailei, A., Williams, B., Patu, P. and Ponton, V. (2023), Pasifika Communities in Australia: 2021 Census, Sydney: Centre for Western Sydney, https://doi.org/10.26183/9qbb-cy24.

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[ref-mixed-citation-793] Mandal, K. C. (2013), ‘Concept and types of women empowerment’, International Forum of Teaching and Studies, 9, pp. 17–30.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-794] Meleisea M., Schoeffel M. P., Leatio’o, K., Fitizemanu, T., Peseta S., Sio, G. and Tavale, P. F. T. (1987), ‘Christianity’, in M. Meleisea (ed.), Lagaga: A Short History of Western Samoa, Honiara: University of the South Pacific, pp. 52–72.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-795] Merriam, S. B., Johnson-Bailey, J., Lee, M. Y., Kee, Y., Ntseane, G. and Muhamad, M. (2001), ‘Power and positionality: Negotiating insider/ outsider status within and across cultures’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 5, p. 405.
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[Google Scholar]

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[ref-mixed-citation-799] Perelini, M. V. (2003), ‘Liberating the Samoan female body in the novels of Sia Figiel: An insider perspective’, master’s thesis, Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-800] Ponton, V. (2018), ‘Utilizing Pacific Methodologies as Inclusive Practice’, Sage Open, 8:3, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018792962.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-801] Sahay, S. (1998), Women and Empowerment: Approaches and Strategies, New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.

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[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-803] Semenyna, S. W. and Vasey, P. L. (2018), ‘Striving for prestige in Samoa: A comparison of men, women, and fa’afafine’, Journal of Homosexuality, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1503461.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-804] Tiatia, A. (2014), Walking the Wall, installation, National Gallery of Victoria, https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/118149. Accessed 2 June 2023.

[ref-mixed-citation-805] Wendt, A. (1999), ‘Afterword: Tatauing the post-colonial body’, in V. Hereniko and R. Wilson (eds), Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
[Google Scholar]

[ref-mixed-citation-806] Wynne-Jones, V. (2021), ‘Walking the Wall and crossing the threshold: Angela Tiatia, Kalisolaite ‘Uhila and Shigeyuki Kihara’s counter-hegemonic choreographies’, in Choreographing Intersubjectivity in Performance Art: New World Choreographies, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 205–32.
[Google Scholar]

Malu tatau: Rite of passage for women’s empowerment

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