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Material World: Western Samoa

36 images Created 15 Jan 2013

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  • The Lagavale family with all their possessions in front of their house. The family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. They farm, fish, and make crafts to support themselves. They also work for others locally, which helps supplement their modest needs. Published in Material World, pages 170-171.
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  • Salmumu beach, Western Samoa.  Material World Project.
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  • The Lagavale family, dressed in their Sunday best for the White Sunday holiday church services, cheerfully pose for the camera in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. They farm, fish, and make crafts to support themselves. They also work for others locally, which supplements their modest needs. Material World Project.
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  • The extended Lagavale family, dressed in their Sunday best for the White Sunday holiday church services, pose for the camera in front of their house in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. White Sunday (also called Children's Day), is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to the island by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Published in Material World, pages 174-175.
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  • The Lagavale family, dressed in their Sunday best for the White Sunday holiday church services, cheerfully pose for the camera in Western Samoa. White Sunday (also called Children's Day) is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to the island by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Alatupe collects firewood, coconuts, and leaves for cooking from the nearby forest close to his home in Poutasi Village, Western Somoa. Work, Food. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Laufafa Alatupe, 31, washes her family's clothes in a stream near the family home. Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Fuao Lagavale, 13, washes her face at the water spigot outside the family's detached cooking house. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Laufafa Lagavale begins cooking at daybreak in the detached Lagavale family cookhouse, under the glow of a single light bulb in preparation for the feast celebrating White Sunday, which is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. Traditionally on this holiday, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for huge family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Western Samoa. Published in Material World, page 173.
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  • Auseuga Lagavale, the matai (head) of his extended family, roasts nuts over a low fire in the cooking hut, in preparation for a White Sunday feast at the Lagavale home in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Auseuga Lagavale, the matai (head) of his extended family, is cooking his favorite coconut sauce, in preparation for a feast at the Lagavale home in Western Samoa. The recipe: wring out fresh coconut meat with the fibers from the husk, boil juice in a bowl by droping in rocks heated by fire, dribble in sugar, stir constantly until the milky white sauce thickens. He is cooking in the family's detached cooking shed behind the main house. Published in Material World, page 172.
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  • Auseuga Lagavale, the matai (head) of his extended family, is cooking his favorite coconut sauce, in preparation for a feast at the Lagavale home in Western Samoa. The recipe: wring out fresh coconut meat with the fibers from the husk, boil juice in a bowl by droping in rocks heated by fire, dribble in sugar, stir constantly until the milky white sauce thickens. Work, Food. {{He is cooking in the family's detached cooking shed behind the main house. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • His 10-year-old daughter walks by as Alatupe Alatupe cooks sausages in the family cooking shed behind the main house for part of the White Sunday feast. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Paugata Lagavale (in red) and a friend from college pluck chickens for dinner in Western Samoa. Published in Material World page 173. Food, Work. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa.
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  • A relative of the Lagavale family, working in the rain outside the family's cooking shed, guts and dresses the pig that will be eaten by the Lagavale Family on White Sunday. White Sunday is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year in Western Samoa. Traditionally on this holiday the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for huge family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Material World Project.
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  • Taro root cooking on a fire in the kitchen house of the Lagavale family's home. Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • The main course for a feast at the Lagavale family home in Western Samoa is a freshly killed pig that roasts on a pile of volcanic rocks heated by fire. Also on the fire is the pig's liver and peeled taro root. Published in Material World, page 172. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa.
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  • Taro root, peeled and ready for cooking in the Lagavale family's kitchen house in Western Samoa. A young chicken is pecking around, looking for food scraps. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • An elderly family member of the Lagavales cannot walk well anymore and spends most of his day lounging on the hand woven mats on the floor of his house. Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Alatupe Alatupe lights his first cigarette of the day while his 11-month-old son naps in his lap and his wife sleeps. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • White rice and fried SPAM with green beans are part of the White Sunday feast at the Lagavale home in Poutasi Village, Western Somoa. The family sits on the floor on hand-woven mats. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Every morning and evening the Lagavale family reads the Bible, prays and sings. Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Junior Alatupe Lagavale sleeps under a mosquito net in Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Alatupe Alatupe changes a flourescent tube in the family home in Western Samoa. The extended Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • Alatupe Alatupe is spearfishing in a lagoon in Poutasi, Western Samoa, while a neighbor looks on. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. The Lagavales have pigs, chickens, a few calves, fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Material World Project.
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  • In Western Samoa, the preparation of food often begins in the lagoon just outside the family home. Here, son-in-law Alatupe Alatupe spears an eel for dinner. The family dugout outrigger canoe anchored just beyond him will serve as his transportation back to shore a short distance away. Published in Material World, page 172. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa.
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  • Lagavale family's toilet. Western Samoa. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Papapapai Tai waterfall near Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Dressed in her White Sunday finery, a young member of the extended Lagavale family is happy that church services are over. White Sunday (also called Children's Day), is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to Western Samoa by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Children leave the Poutasi Village church after the annual White Sunday celebration. White Sunday (also called Children's Day) is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to the island by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Poutasi Village church, Western Samoa on White Sunday. White Sunday (also called Children's Day) is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to the island by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Material World Project.
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  • Teenagers in Poutasi village, Western Samoa, play volleyball in front of the village church. Material World Project.
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  • Villagers clean up the outside of the Poutasi Village church, Western Samoa on White Sunday. White Sunday (also called Children's Day) is celebrated on the second Sunday of October each year. In this tradition brought to the island by the London Missionary Society, the children receive new clothes and gifts, and festive games are played. Most attend church services and then gather for family feasts that feature foods like pork, taro, and coconuts. Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • In Western Samoa, 10-year-old Teuila Lagavale attends math class where the uniformed students sit on mats woven from coconut leaves. The Lagavale family lives in a 720-square-foot tin-roofed open-air house with a detached cookhouse in Poutasi Village, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • Poutasi Village School, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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  • On a languid afternoon, women sell bananas, squash, and other produce in a market in Apia, Western Samoa. Material World Project.
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Peter Menzel Photography

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