Samoans part in CNMI’s history retold

An emotional night was witnessed at the Northern Marianas Humanities Council’s “Samoan Exiles on Saipan” program last Friday at the Visitors Center Theater of the American Memorial Park.

After the presentation made by the Samoan chief Iiga Pisa’s family, several members of the audience felt like they reconnected with history and their own roots.

Members of exiled Samoan chief Iiga Pisa’s family together with the Northern Marianas Humanities Council presented to the public how Samoans are part of the CNMI’s history. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)

“That’s part of the reason we undertake this project, to get feedback from the local community because this is part of the local history. So we’re always happy when there’s interaction and talking and telling stories and remembering things and putting the pieces back together,” Humanities Council executive director Scott Russell said.

One of the members of the audience shared a song her grandfather usually sang to his wife, which she did not know the meaning for the longest time. She eventually knew how the words were Samoan and added that it might be that her ancestors somehow interacted with the Samoans who were exiled on Saipan during the 1900s.

Several individuals brought up the idea of rewriting the Marianas’ history books to include the oral history, which is not usually taught in schools. Another one appealed to the public to be more conscious and respectful of the islands’ history especially the places that have been neglected.

“For this particular project, for this chapter of history, we are working on a booklet where we will combine the archival information from historical records and the surviving oral history and put that into one narrative,” Russell said.

“The idea is to have it available for the Public School System and also for the [Northern] Marianas College and also for people in Samoa,” he added.

The presentation was given by Faautu Talapusi, who has conducted extensive research on her great-grandfather Iiga Pisa, including collecting oral histories related by her family. She has worked for development organizations in Switzerland for nine years before moving back to Samoa.

Her talk focused on the youngest of the exiled chiefs, Iiga Pisa, who gained fame by undertaking a 120-mile voyage from Saipan to Guam in a traditional Samoan paddling canoe.

Several members of the Pisa family also shared stories.

“I’m glad because to me it’s very educational and it will tells about the courage of men and women too,” Iiga Olivia, the eldest living granddaughter of the chief said.

The first presentation last Thursday featured Dr. Malama Meleisea who discussed the Mau a Pule, the indigenous Samoan resistance movement which was led by the orator chief Lauaki Namulau’ulu Mamoe. Lauaki and nine other chiefs were subsequently exiled to Saipan in 1909 by the German colonial administration for their involvement in the Mau. They lived on Saipan for six years before being allowed to return home in 1915.

Meleisea is the director of the Center for Samoan Studies at the National University of Samoa.

Also part of the council’s “Samoan Exiles on Saipan” program were the dedications of two interpretive signs. The first one is north of Lower Base at the site of the former Samoan village, while the second is at Unai Agingan from which Iiga Pisa set out on his canoe voyage to Guam.