CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Unbekannt
1887 - 1919
About the object
The woman pictured in this photograph in cabinet format is Josephine "Sose" Yandall Rasmussen Hunkin. Born in 1864, she was one of four daughters to a Sāmoan father from Afega, Upolu, and a British mother. Her maternal grandfather was British settler and seafarer William Yandall. Sose’s sister, Blanche Saina, was married to New Zealand photographer Alfred James Tattersall who made significant contributions towards Sāmoa’s visual history. The number on the top of the photograph is typical of the sequential coding used by Alfred James Tatersall and suggests that it was taken by him. Tattersall joined fellow photographer John Davis in his Apia-based studio in 1886 and probably took this portrait after 1886 when Sose was in her late 20s. She is wearing European attire and adornments. Her vest-like dress with patterned plate on the bodice is pinned at the collar with a brooch reading "Josephine".
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Sose was married twice. Her first marriage was to Danish sailor Peter Rasmussen, a manager at the Deutsche Handels – und Plantagengesellschaft (DH & PG) who oversaw the plantation in Mulifanua. The couple had one son, Uati Arthur Rasmussen, in 1887, and divorced in 1889. Sose’s second marriage was to British-Sāmoan trader Alfred Hunkin with whom she shared three children.
Intermarriage among Sāmoans and a growing Euro-American population was fairly common in mid to late 19th century Sāmoa. Descendants of mixed parentage, such as Sose, were referred to as “afakasi”, or “half-castes”. Being part of two cultures meant that afakasi walked two worlds: one that was steeped in Fa’asāmoa, the Sāmoan way of life, and one that revolved around Euro-American settler beliefs and principles. Yet, reconciling both cultures proved to be difficult at times as they were constantly set against one another. While Fa’asāmoa existed pre-contact, Euro-Americans settlers brought with them their own ideologies and imposed new standards for co-existing as one society soon after arriving. In alignment with Western race science and politics, Euro-American settlers quickly established a hierarchy that placed them and their values above Fa’asāmoa while undermining the indigenous Sāmoan population. Intermarriage between Sāmoans and Euro-American settlers, however, blurred this distinct division, and afakasi who fell between both categories further challenged the racial dichotomy.
Throughout Sāmoan and Euro-American contact, Western race politics and science fluctuated. From being celebrated as compatriots to being regarded as savages by Euro-American settlers, the Sāmoan community was constantly confronted with changing political attitudes. The identity and rights of afakasi in particular were continuously scrutinised by Euro-American officials. In 1912, a ban on intermarriage was enforced by the German administration under Wilhelm Solf. Unregistered children of mixed parentage thereafter were registered as illegitimate and couldn’t claim their Euro-American father’s “foreigner” status. Accordingly, afakasi were stripped of their societal privileges.
Biased race politics impacted a range of aspects in colonial Sāmoa to the benefit of the Euro-American settler community. In response, Sāmoans mobilised and organised the Mau movement in the 1920s, a peaceful resistance movement that advocated for the autonomy and self-determination of Sāmoans.
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Intermarriage among Sāmoans and a growing Euro-American population was fairly common in mid to late 19th century Sāmoa. Descendants of mixed parentage, such as Sose, were referred to as “afakasi”, or “half-castes”. Being part of two cultures meant that afakasi walked two worlds: one that was steeped in Fa’asāmoa, the Sāmoan way of life, and one that revolved around Euro-American settler beliefs and principles. Yet, reconciling both cultures proved to be difficult at times as they were constantly set against one another. While Fa’asāmoa existed pre-contact, Euro-Americans settlers brought with them their own ideologies and imposed new standards for co-existing as one society soon after arriving. In alignment with Western race science and politics, Euro-American settlers quickly established a hierarchy that placed them and their values above Fa’asāmoa while undermining the indigenous Sāmoan population. Intermarriage between Sāmoans and Euro-American settlers, however, blurred this distinct division, and afakasi who fell between both categories further challenged the racial dichotomy.
Throughout Sāmoan and Euro-American contact, Western race politics and science fluctuated. From being celebrated as compatriots to being regarded as savages by Euro-American settlers, the Sāmoan community was constantly confronted with changing political attitudes. The identity and rights of afakasi in particular were continuously scrutinised by Euro-American officials. In 1912, a ban on intermarriage was enforced by the German administration under Wilhelm Solf. Unregistered children of mixed parentage thereafter were registered as illegitimate and couldn’t claim their Euro-American father’s “foreigner” status. Accordingly, afakasi were stripped of their societal privileges.
Biased race politics impacted a range of aspects in colonial Sāmoa to the benefit of the Euro-American settler community. In response, Sāmoans mobilised and organised the Mau movement in the 1920s, a peaceful resistance movement that advocated for the autonomy and self-determination of Sāmoans.
Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
References
- Richard Eves: ‚Black and white, a significant contrast’: Race, humanism and missionary photography in the Pacific. In: Ethnic and Racial Studies Journal. 2006, S. S. 725-748.
- Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa: Half-castes between the wars: colonial categories in New Zealand and Samoa. In: New Zealand Journal of History. 2000.
- Evelyn Sarah Wareham: Race and Realpolitik: the politics of colonisation in German Sāmoa. 1997.
- Ministry for Culture and Heritage: ‚Olaf Nelson and the place of afakasi in Samoa‘. URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/olaf-nelson-and-place-afakasi-sam…. .