Samoan language nests have become well established in New Zealand due to the commitment, support and contribution of the Samoan community, the church, Samoan families, parents and most importantly the efforts of mothers. Their advent has created new settings within which or through which women's roles may become redefined. This thesis explores the questions of how relationships between Samoan language nests and family systems have developed, and how these relationships may have affected the development of roles within Samoan families, especially women's roles. To obtain answers to these questions three theoretical frameworks were utilised. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model provided concepts for understanding the developmental changes occurring in the transitional relationships between families and language nests. The second theoretical perspective employed was Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural framework to analyse the cultural processes developing between Samoan families and language nests. The final framework was provided by Goodnow and Collins's (1990) concept of 'parents ideas'. Their argument is that parents' ideas and style of parenting has been influenced by their own ontogenic development, and by society's expectations. The answers to the research questions were obtained by interviewing 21 Samoan language nest supervisors in the Auckland area and 100 caregivers or parents. Samoan language nests influenced parents, mothers and their families in their awareness and affirmation of Samoan language and culture, helping with parenting skills, provided support groups and served as an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills about preschool operation and educational processes. Language nests reinforced women's maternal roles, it changed the way they related to their children and the women's support groups encouraged women to assert their rights as women. The level of commitment by women is illustrated in the ways mothers and parents contributed at the language nests. Overall 92 percent of the mothers and parents helped at the nests. The significant contribution of women in Samoan language nests serve to affirm her as a 'poutu', the 'superwoman', the strength of her family, of the church and her community. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:AUCKLAND/oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/22 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Utumapu, Tafili Leahnora Peseta |
| Publisher | ResearchSpace@Auckland |
| Source Sets | University of Auckland |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Source | http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/9836848 |
| Rights | Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only. Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated., http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm, Copyright: The author |
| Relation | PhD Thesis - University of Auckland, UoA838827 |
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