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Tautai: Samoa, World History, and the Life of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson

Online ISBN:
9780824875664
Print ISBN:
9780824866532
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press
Book

Tautai: Samoa, World History, and the Life of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson

Patricia O'Brien
Patricia O'Brien
The Australian National University
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Published online:
18 January 2018
Published in print:
31 May 2017
Online ISBN:
9780824875664
Print ISBN:
9780824866532
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press

Abstract

This is a biography of Ta’isi O. F. Nelson, the Sāmoan nationalist leader who fought New Zealand, the British Empire and the League of Nations between the world wars. It is a richly layered history that weaves a personal and Pacific history with one that illuminates the global crisis of empire after World War One. Ta’isi’s story weaves Sweden with deep histories of Sāmoa that in the late nineteenth century became deeply inflected with colonial machinations of Germany, Britain, New Zealand and the U. S.. After Sāmoa was made a mandate of the League of Nations in 1921, the workings and aspirations of that newly minted form of world government came to bear on the island nation and Ta’isi and his fellow Sāmoan tested the League’s powers through their relentless non-violent campaign for justice. Ta’isi was Sāmoa’s leading businessman who was blamed for the on-going agitation in Sāmoa; for his trouble he was subjected to two periods of exile, humiliation and a concerted campaign intent on his financial ruin. Using many new sources, this book tells Ta’isi’s untold story, providing fresh and intriguing new aspects to the global story of indigenous resistance in the twentieth century.

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