The conflation of sex and gender in the majority of agrifoods policy design and research seeking to address gender inequality has resulted in a pervasive understanding of ‘gender equality’ as synonymous with women’s programming (Mangubhai & Lawless, 2021; Mangubhai et al., 2022).

Further, research specifically addressing the unique challenges faced by individuals of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE) in rural contexts, and within agrifood value chains remains scarce (Bett et al., 2021; Hoffelmeyer, 2021). These significant gaps render the experiences and contributions of fishers and farmers who do not conform to traditional binary gender identities, or who otherwise reside outsider cis-heteronormative cultural and social structures invisible.

Here, we address these persistent lacunae by offering a case study based in Samoa which employs a culturally grounded methodology informed by Queer Theory and Pacific research protocols. Subsistence and small-scale fishing in Samoa is usually organised through agreed community understandings of each individual’s gender role and capabilities.

Through centring Samoan values of va tupuia (the sacred covenantal relationship between people and their environment) and va fealoaloa’i  (mutual respect in social relationships), we examine how individuals of diverse SOGIE operate within the fisheries value chains which are central to Samoan village and family life.


Bio notes

Christina Kenny is an interdisciplinary scholar working on human rights anddevelopment with a focus on post-coloniality, gendered citizenship, and gender and sexuality rights in the Global South, particularly Kenya and Samoa, and Australia. She has worked with the Australian Federal Government across a number of statutory authorities including the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the Refugee and Migration Review Tribunals as well as in national NGOs located in Nairobi (the Kenyan Human Rights Commission) and South Africa (the South African Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Legal Centre). Christina’s current work explores the experiences of people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression working in agrifood supply chains in regional and remote areas of Kenya and Samoa- a series of projects collected under Queer Ruralities https://www.genderandruralitycollective.org

Fetaomi Tapu-Qiliho is a Research Fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW) at the National University of Samoa. She is a researcher specialising in research, monitoring and evaluation, with expertise in Pacific communities, Pacific churches, and gender-based violence. She holds a PhD in Pacific Studies and serves as Senior Researcher for CEVAW, working closely with Associate Professor Louise Mataia on frontline practice responses to violence against women. Her work is grounded in Pacific knowledge systems and community-engaged research.

Within the research project TRACE - Tracing Queer Citizenship Over Time (ERC-2021-COG, TRACE, 101044915)