The Fag End of Fāgogo

Abstract

Abstract:"The Fag End of Fāgogo" is a poetic essay by queer writer Taulapapa that situates his writing practice as a fa'afafine artist within the Samoan tradition of storytelling, specifically the practice of fāgogo. It begins with part of a story, "Papatea," based on narratives of Samoan creation, using a space somewhere between the English and the Samoan languages, narrative structures, and literary conventions. The essay looks at comparative Samoan, English, and US analyses of Samoan narrative practice in its traditional and contemporary forms. Fāgogo is a storytelling practice that differs greatly from official narratives like tala and solo of Samoan culture, which are concerned with establishing genealogical lines. Fāgogo practitioners were and are more often women, and the work has a feminist viewpoint. Taulapapa also looks at the political focus of contemporary fāgogo within the postcolonial context of the Pacific Islands and Oceania.