Writings & Interviews by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
From the beginning, Fa'afafine 1 were a central part what it is to be Polynesian and Samoan, as i... more From the beginning, Fa'afafine 1 were a central part what it is to be Polynesian and Samoan, as in Samoa's origin story of the first humans: On the formation of two bodies being complete, they lived, but were both males, and dwelt on the land on which they were formed. One day, whilst fishing with a net called the faamutu, one of them was injured by a small fish called the lo, which caused his death. Upon this, Tuli returned to the skies, and bewailed the loss of one of the inhabitants of his land to his father, when Ngai-tosi was directed by Tangaloa to proceed to the earth to reanimate the dead body ; previously to which, however, he changed the sex of the deceased male to that of a female. The two then became man and wife, and the parents of the human race. (Tauanu'u & Fofō of Manu'a, 1840s) This story of gender transformation was published in English in 1896 in Jottings on the Mythology and Spirit-Lore of Old Samoa 2 , collected by Rev. John Stair who resided in Samoa from 1838-1845 when Samoans still knew their traditional polytheism well as the, shortly after the 1830 establishment of the London Missionary Society in the islands of Samoa. From the first European contact, there was a shock and fascination with Polynesian acceptance and celebration of queer being, which Europeans identified with hermaphrodites
Tiki Manifesto is a poem that savages notions of tiki kitsch
100 Tiki Notes poem, Artist Statement, and cover art and other artwork in special Pacific issue o... more 100 Tiki Notes poem, Artist Statement, and cover art and other artwork in special Pacific issue of American Quarterly, 2015, edited by Ty Tengen and Paul Lyons. A video version to in the Biomythography exhibition at Rolland Gallery at Cal Lutheran in Los Angeles Fall 2015.
Preface Tulouna le Manu'a, tulouna lau afioga Tuimanu'a 'o lo'o e afio i le Fale'ula, afio mai la... more Preface Tulouna le Manu'a, tulouna lau afioga Tuimanu'a 'o lo'o e afio i le Fale'ula, afio mai laia i ou epa ma lou faleto'a, alāla maia fa'atui, alāla mai 'oulua Vaimagalo, mamalu mai 'outou to'oto'o o le Fale'ula, mamalu mai 'oulua le Manu'a. Tulouna 'oe le motu tapua'i, tulouna le tapua'iga le motu a Salaia, tulouna Sua ma le Vaifanua, tulouna Fofō ma Itulagi. Tulouna 'oe Pule, tulouna a Tumua, tulouna āiga i le tai, tulouna alataua ma itu'au, tulouna va'a o Fonotī. 'Iā Samoa 'uma. With apologies for errors and omissions but with hope this essay will contribute to our discussion. 1
The Fag End of Fāgogo
Narrative Culture, 2019
“The Fag End of Fāgogo” is a poetic essay by queer writer Taulapapa that situates his writing pra... more “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
Translations & Reviews by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Journal of Francophone Studies, 2005
Tahitian activist and poet/playwright Henri Hiro wrote in both French and
Tahitian languages, ex... more Tahitian activist and poet/playwright Henri Hiro wrote in both French and
Tahitian languages, expressing two forms of thinking about colonialism in French
Polynesia, while an activist in the anti-nuclear and independence movement in
Papeete, Tahiti. Now a national hero of Tahiti, the late poet has also been an
inspiration to other Oceania artists and activists, especially in islands like American
Samoa where present day colonialism erases the position of a “post-colonial” critique.
Notions such as “indigenous” and “native” sometimes seem to substitute for and to
weaken arguments of sovereignty and culture/language foundations in present day
colonized nations. The author, a poet and artist from the US Territory of American
Samoa, looks at the relationship between Polynesian spirituality and movements of
Oceania independence from Western colonialisms, exemplified in the difference
between the Polynesian belief in Hiro's “te tupu” the flourishing essense of life, and
the Western belief in “nature” as separate from human struggle. The position of Tahiti
as a pivotal point of monotheistic hegemony over polytheism in Oceania is also investigated.
An art review of contemporary Papua and Mbuti barkcloth painting in exhibition at the Fowler Muse... more An art review of contemporary Papua and Mbuti barkcloth painting in exhibition at the Fowler Museum, Los Angeles in 2012.
Atea: Nature and Divinity in Polynesia (review)
The Contemporary Pacific, 2021
Away bodysuits, we began to process down the majestic staircase in the Great Hall, wondering if w... more Away bodysuits, we began to process down the majestic staircase in the Great Hall, wondering if we’d tumble, and it struck me again how art brings down these spirits and how our bodies express the communal body in a time of change on change. In the Atea exhibition, one felt a part of the city—its capitalization of culture, its attempts at the removal of Indigenous agency, its own naturalized functions—and yet briefly, in the works of the exhibition and the sounds of the ‘olelo (Hawaiian, Shinnecock, and Māori chanting at the event), one was intensely aware of those woven lines that connect us to the night and the day of our ancestors.
Anti-Colonial Movements, South Pacific
Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice, 2007
Cities of the plain like islands in the Sea*
Wasafiri, 1997
PIKO: Pacific Islander Contemporary Art Exhibition
Amerasia Journal, 2015
Stories by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
"Papatea"
Papatea is a poem/story published in the May 2017 Native issue of World Literature Today. See li... more Papatea is a poem/story published in the May 2017 Native issue of World Literature Today. See link above to read.
A short story about metamorphosis.
Art by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
STEAM, 2014
This work, Mana and Ea, expresses Polynesian indigenous sovereignty struggles with colonialism an... more This work, Mana and Ea, expresses Polynesian indigenous sovereignty struggles with colonialism and globalism in the Pacific Islands.
Sega I
Contemporary Pacific - CONTEMP PACIFIC, 2010
Papers by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Artist Statement: Aitu Studies
University of Hawaii Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2024
Aitu
University of Hawaii Press eBooks, Apr 30, 2024
Uploads
Writings & Interviews by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Translations & Reviews by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Tahitian languages, expressing two forms of thinking about colonialism in French
Polynesia, while an activist in the anti-nuclear and independence movement in
Papeete, Tahiti. Now a national hero of Tahiti, the late poet has also been an
inspiration to other Oceania artists and activists, especially in islands like American
Samoa where present day colonialism erases the position of a “post-colonial” critique.
Notions such as “indigenous” and “native” sometimes seem to substitute for and to
weaken arguments of sovereignty and culture/language foundations in present day
colonized nations. The author, a poet and artist from the US Territory of American
Samoa, looks at the relationship between Polynesian spirituality and movements of
Oceania independence from Western colonialisms, exemplified in the difference
between the Polynesian belief in Hiro's “te tupu” the flourishing essense of life, and
the Western belief in “nature” as separate from human struggle. The position of Tahiti
as a pivotal point of monotheistic hegemony over polytheism in Oceania is also investigated.
Stories by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Art by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Papers by Dan Taulapapa McMullin