Whispers and vanities : Samoan indigenous knowledge and religion / edited by Tamasailau M. Suaalii-Saun, Maualaivao Albert Wendt, Vitolia Mo'a, Naomi Fuamatu, Upolu Luma Va'ai, Reina Whaitiri, Stephen L. Filipo.

"This collection of essays and selected poetry responds to an address on Samoan religious culture given by Samoa's Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi, to the 2009 World Parliament of Religions. The address challenges some fundamental aspects of and assumptions in modern Samoan indigenous religious culture. The essays and poetry form a carefully woven critique, from within and outside Samoa, of aspects of Samoa's religious and cultural values"--Publisher information.

Includes index.

Introduction (Tamasailau M Suaalii-Sauni et al.) -- 1. Whispers and vanities in Samoan indigenous religious Culture / Tui Atua Tupua Tamaese Ta'isi Efi -- 2. Mauli / Maualaivao Albert Wendt -- 3. Le Aso ma le Taeao - the day and the hour: life or demise for "Whispers and vanities"? / Vitolia Mo'a -- 4. Whispers, whisperers, whispering... / Jenny Plane Te Paa Daniel -- 5. Taxi 2016 / Momoe Malietoa Von Reiche -- 6. The culture of whispers: colonialism, secrets and shame / Paul Morris -- 7. Notes and questions in the margin / Raymond Pelly -- 8. Plea to the Spanish lady / Serie (Cherie) Barford -- 9. Crossing cultures in Oceania / Jione Havea -- 10. The prayer of a Fa'atosaga: Fa'aaloalo in Samoan indigenous religious culture / Upolu Luma Va'ai -- 11. Our past / Ruperake Petaia -- 12. Exploring x-rated cultural practices / Fonoti Lafitai I Fuata'i -- 13. Buried treasure / Bradd Shore -- 14. O Kaulaiku / Dan Taulapapa McMullin -- 15. When the waters met: some shared histories of Christianity and ancestral Samoan spirituality / Toeolesulusulu Damon Ieremia Salesa -- 16. 'And the word was God': disentangling language games in Oceania / Tui Rakuita -- 17. From centre to periphery: the trajectories of societies' ideas / Cluny Macpherson and La'avasa Macpherson -- 18. Daddy said / Tafea Polamalu -- 19. "Whispers and vanities": a critical enquiry / Anne-Marie Tupuola -- 20. 'Lifting the veil': the spirit of Mafutaga in Samoan dance rituals / Naomi Fuamatu -- 21. Two nudes on a Tahitian beach, 1894 / Selina Tusitala -- 22. Whispers, vanities, covert and overt fury... / Pamela Stephenson Connolly -- 23. A living legacy / Jennifer Freeman -- 24. Le Ala i le Mafa e ... The path towards enlightenment / Karen Lupe -- 25. Sa Nafanua / Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard -- 26. Sina and Nafanua: mother goddess enacting primordial spirituality in Samoa / Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard -- 27. Whispering back from Rotuma / Vilsoni Hereniko -- 28. I don't know how to whisper! / Teresia Kieuea Teaiwa -- 29. The daffodils - from a native's perspective / Sia Figiel -- 30. Mana Whakatipu / Reina Whaitiri -- 31. Indigenous knowledges: insight and intrigue / Tracey McIntosh -- 32. Saipan revisited 1997 / Noumea Simi -- 33. No need to whisper: reclaiming indigenous knowledge and education in the Pacific / Konai Helu Thaman -- 34. To educate is to touch the soul! Authority and dignity in 'hearing' indigenous Samoan whispers and Fijian silences / Unaisi Nabobo-Baba -- 35. Wild dogs under my skirt / Tusiata Avia -- 36. Tomorrow began yesterday / Stephen L. Filipo -- 37. The gospel and the Samoan soul / Anthony Kelly -- 38. For Tasi (Dotsy) / Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl -- Afterward (Maualaivao Albert Wendt).