Abstract

This paper revolves around women tourism entrepreneurs in the Pacific island nation of Samoa where an ancient way of living (fa’a Samoa) co-exists with colonial heritage and a growing tourism industry. By adopting a perspective sensitive to socio-cultural specificities, we examine the ways that the socio-cultural context both enables and impedes the empowerment of women managing tourism accommodations. In this venture, we draw on an ethnographic field study in the rural island of Savai’i, including semistructured interviews as well as informal conversations with locals, observations and the participation in everyday practices. We pinpoint and discuss the main sources of power and power-relations that women entrepreneurs need to command in order to run their businesses. Finally, we conclude that no (wo)man is an island, as we are all part of, and depend on, intrinsic social structures for our welfare.

摘要

本文围绕太平洋岛国萨摩亚的女性旅游企业家展开，那里古老的生活方式（fa'a Samoa）与殖民遗产和不断发展的旅游业共存。通过采用对社会文化特性敏感的视角，我们研究了社会文化背景既能够实现又能阻碍赋予管理旅游住宿的妇女权力。在这个项目中，我们利用了在萨瓦伊乡村岛上的民族志实地研究，包括半结构化访谈以及与当地人的非正式对话、观察和参与日常实践。我们确定并讨论了女性企业家为了经营企业而需要掌握的主要权力来源和权力关系。最后，我们得出结论，没有（我）人是一座孤岛，因为我们都是内在社会结构的一部分，并依赖于我们的福利。