“Adolescent girls in American Samoa are challenging the social norms not only of cultural construals of self, but of the role of girls and women in dance and perhaps in society... They are semiotically merging opposing definitions of self and identity through dance." (Georgina 2007)

Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology
Anthropology Program
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY

 

"[N]owadays a lot of us feel that ... it’s like the sand on the shore washing away, it’s gradually moving to that, so I think dancing really helps preserve Samoan culture. "

 

-- from Siva! The Semiotics of Selfhood in Samoan Dance

Dr. Georgina teaches courses in cultural anthropology, psychological anthropology, visual anthropology and video production. Her research interests include ethnographic documentary video, the role and interaction of psychology and culture in identity and self, and the impact of culture change on adolescent identity formation.