Telling a Tale: Margaret Mead's Photographic Portraits of Fa'amotu, a Samoan Tāupou

Abstract

In 1925 Margaret Mead spent 10 days in High Chief Ufuti's household in the village of Vaitogi, Tutuila, before sailing to Ta'u where she conducted most of her research on Samoan adolescence. In Vaitogi, Mead took many photographs of Fa'amotu, Ufuti's t # upou daughter, several of which appeared in Coming of Age in Samoa . This article examines a number of intertwined issues of visual representation which may have prompted Mead to use a disproportionate number of pictures of Fa'amotu in early editions of her book. Mead's approach to photographic representation and issues such as collaboration, performance, typicality, marketability, anonymity, and acknowledgement are examined through her photographs and writings.

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