Suan Maiava - A Clash of Paradigms: Response and Development in the South Pacific

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A CLASH OF PARADIGMS: INTERVENTION, RESPONSE AND
DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

For John and Sarah

Some of the dominant class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation as they move to the side of the exploited they almost always bring with them the marks of their origin. Their prejudices include a lack of confidence in the peoples ability to think, to want, and to know They talk about the people but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. (Paulo Freire, 1972:36)

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to save as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to save the Jews. To the Gentiles I became like a Gentile, so as to save the Gentiles. To the weak I became weak, to save the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (1 Corinthians, 9:922)

Dedicated to all the smallholder cattle farmers of Samoa

First published 2001 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Susan Louise Maiava 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 00135318

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-63559-3 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-20441-3 (ebk)

Contents

One of the key objectives of Development Studies, as an academic endeavour, and development practitioners, as real-world actors, has been to develop, implement and refine tools which allow us to evaluate the success or failure of development projects. Such techniques involve an examination of net economic cost-benefit and both social and environmental impacts. Yet this study indicates that we still have far to go in really understanding and assessing how projects work.

Successive attempts to introduce cattle farming in Samoa used overseas livestock, capital and expertise. A decade and more of activity, though, resulted in the conclusion by aid officials that the projects had failed to establish a viable and sustainable population of smallholder commercial cattle farmers. Yet what Susan Maiava has been able to demonstrate in this book is that this perception of failure was not shared by those whom the projects were supposed to benefit. Samoan villagers may not have ended up operating as the projects intended and they were not, by and large, specialist cattle farmers oriented strongly to the market.

However, they had gained much. They adapted their cattle husbandry practices significantly and, contrary to the assessments of some foreign observers, they did not squander all their livestock in wasteful ceremonial exchanges and they did not randomly surrender their best breeding stock. Instead they developed strategies to match the needs of their social obligations with the desire to maintain their herd sizes and quality. They did use their cattle for traditional ceremonial demands but they did so in ways which brought them benefits, both material and social. They did face demands and pressures from kinfolk to donate livestock but they often were able to manage such demands or learn to draw limits on what they would give. And they did face many problems in raising and managing new cattle herds but they learned new techniquesmany of them not from the consultants textbooksand today maintain and breed cattle herds successfully.

This is a book that needs to be read not only by those who might have an interest in cattle and/or Samoa but also anybody who wants to understand more about the different cultures of development. Development practitioners and consultants, for all their technical expertise, frequently do not see development in the same way as those people they intend to benefit. It is clear from this study that improved cultural awareness and sensitivity on the part of expertseven when they are local expertshas not yet adequately grasped the critical need to appreciate that development is unlikely to succeed when it seeks to replace completely one world view with another. People are willing to change; people want to be able to improve material well-being for themselves and their families. Yet their place in society and the underlying moral economy also has to be addressed.

What this study shows is that there does not have to be a simple choice between modernity and wealth on one hand and traditionalism and community on the other. Samoan villagersbut not agricultural consultantsproved able to find a compromise and to adapt a form of development which, although limited and far from failsafe, balanced their needs and obligations well.

We need to learn from studies such as this. Our tools of social assessment and impact are still crude if they cannot take account of the way people are able to negotiate development projects in flexible ways and fit them to their own views of the world. Similarly we are not good at assessing success. Whilst we have developed sophisticated techniques to quantify project outputs (herd sizes, marketed production and average incomes) we still fail to understand, let alone measure, more qualitative indices such as well-being, social standing and personal satisfaction. For it is these latter things that matter to the people that have to live with development projects long after the consultants have departed.

John Overton
Professor of Development Studies
Massey University
Palmerston North
New Zealand
April 2000

Thanks go first to my husband Mataia Tavale II, my chief advisor on Samoan culture as well as translator and interpreter. He has always been extremely supportive and encouraging over the past six years. Thanks also to my parents and my children John and Sarah. Malo lava le tapuai.

I am deeply grateful to Professor John Overton and Associate Professor Brian Ponter for their penetrating comments and tireless support.

I am indebted for financial support to both Massey University and MFAT for significant contributions to the cost of fieldwork, and to Professor Pattie at USP, Alafua Campus, for allowing us the use of a house in Samoa.

In Samoa many people were of great assistance in allowing this research to proceed unhindered and in being very willing to discuss issues in the development of the smallholder cattle sector with me. My first thanks go to the then Minister of Agriculture, Misa Telefoni Retzlaff, and the Director of Agriculture, Tuisuga Sofara Aveau. Thanks also to Deputy Director Seve Imo and Chief Livestock Officer Ken Lameta and all his staff in the Livestock Section at Avele. Very special thanks to two people who were especially helpful: Faleupolu Tevita and Nofoa Tamasese, both in 1987 and 1994.

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