Attributions
The volumes Talitonuga Anamua and Sina and Tigilau were first published by the Bilingual/Bicultural Education Project of American Samoa. This project was funded under Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with funds granted by the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Pago Pago, American Samoa, 1981.
Both volumes were written by Fa’atafa Gago and Mila Sapolu.
The illustrator is Dorothy (“Dotsy”) Kneubuhl. She lived at Olo, Taputiu, American Samoa since married to John Kneubuhl, another consultant on the 1981 BOE project.
All of the stories in these two works were re-told and prepared by their authors in the language of contemporary Samoa of 1980, intending these as vehicles for teaching the Samoan language to Samoan children. These authors translated from works prepared in both the very high Samoan and European English in 1955 which is rarely used today. Hence, our translators and writers re-told these stories in the contemporary English of 2020.
“Lafai” The History of Samoa, by Brother Fred Henry, needed no translation since it was published in both Samoan and English. We chose only those stories Dotsy Kneubuhl illustrated. We edit; we copy and paste is paragraphs; we quote quite liberally and contemporize his writing only somewhat. We used the Lambie edition, Commercial Printers, Ltd., 1979, Apia, Samoa. The Samoan translations were simply scanned.
We are grateful to our 2018-2020 consultants, transcribers and translators listed here who worked for over two years to produce the text, which was later revised to achieve a unitary voice and overcome the reductive language choices of the original 1981 authors. I am indebted to loving family for their support and encouragement throughout.
We especially thank High Talking Chief Fofo Iiga I. F. Sunia, first of Manu’ua, whose infectious and enthusiastic love for stories (fagagogo), for language and for Samoa sustained our staff throughout and contributed invaluable insights and unsurpassed literary support, referrals and materials. His book, “Samoan Legends of Love and Courtship Among Kings and Chiefs,” (2016) is liberally referenced throughout.
It is impossible to separate out the contributions of our individual translators. We could not have begun without the first or finished without the last. We thank especially:
Aliiao Aluiava, High Court of American Samoa transcriptionist, who led us to:
Jessica Afuola Wannamaker, of Vatia, American Samoa, and presently Las Vegas, Nevada;
Vaeva Lei-Sam Pritchard, first of Faleasi’u and Taufusi Village, Apia, Samoa and presently Sydney, Australia. Vaeva, a gifted storyteller, re-wrote several stories which were hopelessly inaccessible through the published translations, especially the Turtle and the Shark, Nafanua, and the several pieces concerning Samoan culture. She also translated stories back to Samoan where translations were challenging.
This work was especially improved by Tracey Pritchard Evans, of Sydney, Australia, Vaeva Lei-Sam Pritchard’s daughter, an indefatigable editor and transcriptionist;
Rowena P. Reid, Associate Director, Center for Learning and Teaching, Brigham Young University, Oahu, Hawaii, of Faleniu village, now Laie, Hawaii, who translated both manuscripts, with the assistance of Junior Tuiasosopo, of Vaitogi, American Samoa, and Teo Buckingham, of Laie, Hawaii.
This website was designed, built, managed and organized by Peter Buddemeyer, of Santa Barbara, California, while he was enrolled in college at the UC San Diego campus. Peter, who replicated and reproduced all of the images, and provided invaluable editorial advice and research, passed away October 6, 2021at Santa Barbara, California.
We hope Rebecca Wasilewski, the free lance artist in Connecticut who created many of the images and designed the logo, will address the restoration of the original drawings which were recently found near Dotsy’s former home at Olo, Taputimu, American Samoa.
Your editor of the stories in this website is Robin Alexandra Kneubuhl, of Santa Barbara, California.