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Story: Samoans

Jemaima Tiatia and Suresa Gavet

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Jemaima Tiatia and Suresa Gavet

Many young Samoans face a conflict between the strict traditional values of respect for elders and church and their more liberal experiences in New Zealand. In Caught between cultures: a New Zealand-born Pacific Island perspective (1988), Jemaima Tiatia, a 24-year-old Auckland university student, wrote of this conflict after talking to 20 New Zealand-born Pacific Islanders. Here she shares a joke with her grandmother, Suresa Gavet.

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New Zealand Herald

Reference: 27 February 1998 (Neg. 8/389)

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Lupematasila Melani Anae, Samoans – New Zealand-born identity, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/1577/jemaima-tiatia-and-suresa-gavet (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Lupematasila Melani Anae, published 4 March 2009, reviewed and revised 7 September 2022 with assistance from Lupematasila Melani Anae.