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On Skin and Bone, Samoan Coconut Oil in Indigenous Practice.

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dc.contributor.author ALEFOSIO, TOAGA
dc.contributor.author K. HENDERSON, APRIL
dc.date.accessioned 2021-12-10T01:00:17Z
dc.date.available 2021-12-10T01:00:17Z
dc.date.issued 2018
dc.identifier.citation https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2018.1543021 en_US
dc.identifier.uri ${sadil.baseUrl}/handle/123456789/1625
dc.description 21 pages : PDF en_US
dc.description.abstract International promotional material on coconut oil commonly references its centuries of use as a beauty and health aid by Pacific Islanders. However, this gesture towards Indigenous Pacific use of coconut oil is rarely accompanied by substantive information. This paper explores the topical application of coconut oil in three Indigenous Samoan practices: fofo ¯, or massage by taula ¯sea and other forms of customary healers or medical attendants; samaga, the anointing with coconut oil of the newly inked pe‘a or malu to mark the completion of these customary tattoos; and liutofaga, the ritual ‘washing’ of the bones of a deceased relative with coconut oil prior to reinternment. This paper argues that there are interrelated practical, medicinal, and spiritual dimensions to Samoan uses of coconut oil, and that these are usefully understood through reference to Samoan conceptions of sociospatial relationship, or va ¯. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher The Journal of Pacific History. en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Volume 53;No. 4
dc.subject Samoa, coconut oil, indigenous, Pacific Islands, healing, tattoo, death, ritual en_US
dc.title On Skin and Bone, Samoan Coconut Oil in Indigenous Practice. en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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