About Anavatau
Anavatau is a diaspora-led archive of Samoan knowledge.
At its centre is a searchable database of academic resources, historical documents and cultural research - collected, curated and made accessible to anyone who wants to understand Samoa more deeply. Along with the database, essays and blog posts bring that material to life through the voices of people with a genuine relationship to their subject.
Everything on Anavatau is free to access.
Why we exist
Samoa and her people have long been the subject of extensive research. Anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists and colonial administrators have been documenting us for over two centuries. Some of that work is valuable. Some of it requires reading with a critical eye. Most of it is scattered across academic databases, institutional archives and out-of-print texts that the average Samoan family has never had reason to find.
Anavatau gathers it in one place and offers our own interpretation.
We are motivated researchers; this is our identity, our language, our history. We want to know what has been written about us and what we have written about ourselves. This archive is us building that knowledge base in public.
Who writes here
Essays on Anavatau are written by contributors who bring documented knowledge and a genuine connection to their subject - whether that comes from academic training, professional work, genealogical research or a lifetime inside the culture. Each essay carries a standfirst explaining why this person is writing this piece. Contributors retain full copyright over their work.
We are actively building our contributor base. If the writing here reflects the kind of knowledge you carry, we would like to hear from you.
Who this is for
Anavatau is for the diaspora exploring their own heritage. It is for the researcher who wants their work to reach the community most affected by it. It is for anyone who has ever typed a question about Samoa into a search engine and found the results unsatisfying.
Want to know how Anavatau came to be? [Read our story →]
Frequently asked questions
Is Anavatau free? Yes. All essays, blog posts and archive records are free to access. Some resources in the archive are held by third-party academic databases and may require institutional access - we always indicate this clearly. Anavatau itself will never put its own content behind a paywall.
Who is behind Anavatau? Anavatau is founded and built by Lillian 'Lilieni' Arp, a Samoan-born writer and software engineer based in South Auckland, New Zealand. [Read our story →]
Can I contribute? We welcome contributors who bring real knowledge and a clear relationship to their subject. We are building our contributor community carefully and deliberately. If that sounds like you, reach out at sioualofa@anavatau.com.