The author of a book on Samoan oratory has urged Samoan children to write stories on their heritage as the experience will enable them to appreciate their identity.

Samoan-born Le'ausalilo Dr. Sadat Muaiva, who recently launched his book titled “Lāuga: Understanding Samoan oratory”, told the Samoa Observer that writing stories about Samoan heritage is critical as it enables Samoans to delve deeper into who they are and who they once were.

"To write stories about our heritage is important, because it enables us to reach into who we are and who we once were,” Le'ausalilo said in an email response.

“It’s a great tool for learning and better understanding ourselves.

"Youth and children can learn a lot from the art of oratory because it delves into the many registers of the language and intricacies of the Samoan culture.”

Asked what the significance of the lāuga is to a Samoan, he pointed to the encompassing values given to a Samoan through their oratory language.

"Lāuga encompasses all that is faaSamoa – when we are exposed to that sort of knowledge – it provides opportunities to see the world in a different light, to see and understand the world with a Samoan lense," he said.

Le'ausalilo is the son of a faifeau, Reverend Elder Malaki Muaiava and Rosalili Muaiava and hails from the villages of Safa'ato'a, Faleaseela, Falelatai, Lufilufi, Sale'aula  and Asau and also holds the titles Le’ausālilō (Falease’ela), Lupematasila (Falelatai), Fata (Afega) and ‘Au’afa (Lotofaga, Aleipata).

The author and academic launched his book in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa earlier in the week and dedicated his book to his parents and his late mother-in -law, Katie Kohlhase Chadwick.

His PhD thesis examined the processes of how foreign words are integrated into the Samoan language and how these have contributed to Samoan language change at specific periods and over time.

"I have contributed widely and publicly in forums that discuss Samoan language, oratory, tattooing and history,” he said. “I am also interested in research to do with Pacific languages and cultures.”

Le'ausalilo is a lecturer in Samoan Studies at the Victoria University in Wellington and is also the chairman of the FAGASA Wellington (Association for Teachers of the Samoan Language in Aotearoa). 

Contributors to his book included Ta'iao Dr Matavai Tautunu, Director of the Center of Samoan Studies and Leo'o Jenny Taotua, who wrote from the perspective of a New Zealand-born Samoan tama'itai on the concept of Lāuga as a generation of migration.

Reverend Martin Mariota, who wrote about nurturing lāuga in the church, the lotu tamaiti told Samoa Observer that he was a New Zealand-born Samoan, whose parents originated from Iva (mother) and father from Falealili, Saleilua.

"As an E.F.K.S faifeau born in New Zealand my small contribution is a way for me to raise awareness of different platforms that lāuga can be expressed for the next generation," he said.