ASCC Press Release Friday, November 05, 2004

American Samoa Community College Students partiticpate

in a video teleconference with their peers at the

Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(Photo: J. Kneubuhl)

ASCC And KCC Students Share Cultural Exchange

By James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press Officer

Students at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) took part in a morning of cultural reflection and sharing this past Friday when they participated in a video teleconference (VTC) with a class at Kapiolani Community College (KCC) in Honolulu, Hawaii. The VTC involved ASCC students from the Pacific History class, taught by Ms. Okenaisa Fauolo, and KCC students taking the course Culture & Communications with instructor Ms. Christine Higa. The event gave students a chance to exchange information and opinions about their respective cultures and societies.

Following personal introductions by students in both locations, the conference followed a structure worked out by Ms. Fauolo and Mrs. Higa, which focused on the general topics of Americanization, Globalization, Effects of Technology on Culture, Courtship & Marriage, and College Life.

In the first area of discussion, the KCC students readily admitted that Hawaii by far has a more Americanized culture than American Samoa. As a US state, many areas of Hawaii have begun to resemble the US mainland in every conceivable way, although the KCC students say this has happened to a lesser extent on Hawaiiπs outer islands. The ASCC students talked about the influence of American culture here, with Pepsi and McDonalds now a part of our everyday lives, but they emphasized that Samoans have a tendency to indigenize outside influences without losing their culture. The KCC students express admiration that so much of the traditional Samoan language and culture remains intact, and cautioned the ASCC students not to take it for granted.

In the area of Globalization, once again the students all agreed that Hawaii has experienced this phenomenon to an even greater extent than American Samoa. Hawaii simply has more people from all over the world coming and going, some as tourists, as well as access to more international trade. One KCC student used the example of his car, which has parts manufactured in several different countries. The ASCC students talked about the ready availability of international goods here, and joked that the locally-manufactured tuna and wahoo reaching shops overseas constitutes our own form of Globalization.

Technology has had a profound effect on the cultures of both Hawaii and Samoa. Both cultures now have access to the internet, as well as other communication devices such as cell phones. The students found that in both their cultures, young people tended to adapt to technology faster than the older generations. Some remarked that the conference itself, utilizing video communications technology that did not exist in the islands less than a decade ago, represents yet another advantage of technologyπs relentless advance.

When discussing Courtship & Marriage, the Hawaii students talked about the conflict between the traditional and modern views of how young men and women get together. Some get together for short terms, while others aim for long-term unions, and the high divorce rates illustrate how many cannot differentiate between the two. In turn, an ASCC student explained the difference between the arranged marriages of old Samoa and the modern ways in which marriage partners find each other. Laughter filled the room when he concluded his analysis by emphasizing that one thing has not changed at all: when you marry someone, you marry their whole family as well.

The final topic, College Life, saw the KCC students clarifying that in Hawaii, or at least in the community colleges, they did not have the type of party-filled college experience often portrayed in movies and on television. They explained that Hawaiiπs community colleges often attract parents and people taking classes in addition to working full-time. The ASCC students had some common ground with their KCC counterparts on this point, since a good portion of those attending our college juggle families and jobs as well.

In the course of the two-hour exchange, all these ideas and many others gave the students at both campuses a lot to think about, as well as a clearer picture of each other and their respective cultures. As Ms. Higa said in her closing remarks, ≥Sometimes you donπt really reflect on your own culture until you try to describe it to someone from outside.≤

Ms. Fauolo echoed these sentiments. ≥Along with Ms. Higa, I organized this VTC to give my Pacific History students a chance to experience a different mode of learning besides lectures, textbooks and their own personal experiences. This way, they get to hear from young people very much like them, except these peers live in the Hawaiian culture.≤

Speaking on behalf of herself and her students, Fauolo continued, ≥I enjoy sharing my culture with non-Samoans. They get to learn about the faasamoa, and the sharing helps me know my own Samoan-ness better.≤