No. 737 Laina Said, 2008

File — Box: 72, Folder: 10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Laina Said was born in Raiatea, French Polynesia. Raiatea is part of the group of islands that includes Tahiti. It is the second most important island in French Polynesia because the hospital is located there and people from the surrounding islands go to Raiatea for medical attention. Laina lived in Raiatea with her family of six brothers and sisters until she went to university in Tahiti. She didn’t do very well in high school and college because she liked to party and go clubbing with her friends instead and she didn’t focus on school. She decided to get back on the right path so she moved to Hawaii to go to BYU. That’s where she met her husband. Laina and her husband moved to Utah so he could go to school. After he graduates they plan to move to France because he has family there and she can go to school for free. She describes growing up in Raiatea where she and her friends would play in the mountains and in the rivers. Her town was very small and simple. At school, the teachers were very strict and would physically punish students for misbehaving. Her parents didn’t really expose her to Tahitian culture growing up, and she thinks it’s because they were ignorant of the benefits of knowing and experience one’s cultural heritage. She loves to dance, but growing up in Tahiti, she was afraid to dance traditional Tahitian dances because she would have had to show too much skin and shake her bum in front of people. But when she was attending BYU Hawaii she worked for the Polynesian Culture Center and her passion for dancing was unleashed. Laina talks about the mix of cultures in Tahiti and Raiatea. The French colonized Tahiti so there is a very strong French influence on the islands. Tahitians were forced to adopt French culture and customs, sometimes at the expense of their own culture and traditions. There is also a strong Chinese population. Laina was ashamed to speak Tahitian, and so doesn’t know the language as well as she knows French and English. She felt that it was more important to learn French because it was the dominant culture. Laina describes her experience moving to Utah. She feels that the people in Utah are hypocritical and that they only act nice towards her. They aren’t genuine. As a Mormon, she feels that other Mormons in Utah are only nice to her at church, not outside of church. She describes being treated differently for being Polynesian. She feels that the Polynesians in Utah, though, are much more welcoming and warm than Tahitians. When she visited Tahiti, people thought she was strange for being so warm and outgoing, and Laina thinks she acted that way because she’d been in Utah for so long.
Project: Pacific Islanders.
Interviewer: Savani Aupiu.

Dates

2008

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.