The sacred power of i’inei can be seen in the case of fa`alavelave (weddings, funerals, graduations) held fafo, at which someone coming from Samoa and bearing gifts is indispensable. The attendance of those i`inei at a wedding, funeral or graduation is a symbol of family pride and social identity. As sisters of a household now living in Auckland said, ‘We had our uncles come for our weddings and one of them was the master of ceremony. He handled the `aiga, guests, visitors, and all the protocols of fa`a-Samoa. They brought a special fine mat from Samoa.’ The presence of Samoan relatives bringing traditional gifts to overseas fa`alavelave is seen as adding authenticity to the occasion. The exchange of gifts symbolises the importance of genealogical links to the past. As Howard and Rensel (1997, 147) put it, discussing status and power in Rotuma, ‘Without chiefs ceremonies of all kinds—births, marriages, welcomings, village and district fetes—would lose their significance, for it is the presence of chiefs that lends dignity and historical depth to such occasions.’ The Rotuman case highlights a comparable understanding of the importance of ritual status for Samoan communities. It remains integral to their ethnic identity in overseas communities, while at the same time it reproduces the power of Samoa as a place.

The importance of gift exchange and remittances in the maintenance of socioeconomic and sociocultural relations has also been described by Werbner (1989) in her study of Pakistanis in Great Britain. She argues that British earnings are always converted into inalienable gifts, bringing permanent debt and indelible reciprocity to those exchanging them. While gifts and exchange are key to the creation of social networks in Britain, they are also a ‘metonymic exchange of substance between South Asia and Britain’ (Werbner 1989, 204). Subedi’s (1993) study of remittances and exchange in two rural communities in Nepal shows similar behaviours. Exchange between places does more than reproduce social relationships and surpasses gifts of goods or money at fa`alavelave. Exchange carried from Samoa and members fafo seeking a Samoan healer and medicines to cure ma`i (Samoan illness) demonstrate the reproductive power of places, goods, and people.

Particular goods express notions about the places from which they come. Consumption of i`inei (here and local) produce is also a social statement of its spirituality and ability to sustain its inhabitants. In contrast, goods from abroad link their consumers with the economic and political force of fafo, the object of desire. Goods thus carry ideas about power which are exchanged between people in Salelologa and overseas. Beside the usual remittances, gifts sent by Samoans abroad tend to symbolise the essence of fafo: economic power, industrial production and popular Western culture. Electronic goods, videos, TV sets, DVDs, microwave, refrigerators and lawn mowers all feature in Salelologa households.

During my interviews, one `aiga member who had been given a lawn mower when visiting New Zealand transformed it from a personal use to an informal business, charging $20–30 Samoan tala to mow lawns in Salelologa. This demonstrates people’s creativity, but such small subtle changes sometimes produce contradictory effects on the community. While the lawn mower effectively cuts the grass in less time and thereby frees young girls and boys of the `aiga for other responsibilities, it also means that families must find the money for this service. Furthermore, just as the European style houses have become ubiquitous, so `aiga members will put pressure on their children working locally or overseas to provide these kinds of goods. As home appliances have gradually found their way into Salelologa homes, so too will lawn mowers and other agricultural equipment.

Overseas relatives wish to share their wealth with those at home, because hard work and generosity are core social values by which one is evaluated. At times, the desire to provide such goods produces intra and inter-family competition that motivates heightened productivity. At other times, it sets off individualism, jealousy, and dissatisfaction. Part of the balancing act of being Samoan is the reconciliation between the implacable Euro-American demands of the individual with those of the often hegemonic and Island collective self. How can the seemingly irresistible be fused with the seemingly immovable? Indigenous Pacific Island scholars and writers such as Albert Wendt, Epeli Hau`ofa, Konai Thaman, and Sia Figiel explore and question this throughout their work. Ambivalence, the holding of two opposing views or emotions at the same time, is a way of dealing with these contradictions.<sup>[3]</sup> Ambivalence and ambiguity provide opportunities to explore the costs and benefits of moving, the decisions of what to keep and what to discard. Paradoxical as they appear, ambivalence and ambiguity are an essential part of the dynamic process of culture. In the mobility process, these countervailing views or emotions are usually resolved by appropriating them into fa`a-Samoa, although many people are not always aware of this.

When migrants die overseas, their bodies are flown back to Salelologa for the funeral. This further represents the continuing primacy of the ‘aiga and its material roots in the land. While I was conducting the mobility survey and related interviews, a son described how his deceased father was brought back from California in 1991 and in 1997, a deceased aunt was accompanied back by relatives for burial in Samoa. Family is still attached to its community of origin, because the nu’u (village) defines one’s identity and status overseas. There are also instances where a parent or child is buried overseas when family members recognise that those important to a particular individual are there. The interaction between i’inei and fafo, specifically the importance of fafo and i’inei to the group, shows the inappropriateness of theorising village-metropolitan dichotomies in an increasingly transnational world.