Finding Identity through Language and Culture

        The Tahitian Chapter, in partnership with the Pacific Islands Studies department, organized a forum with Marguerite Lai, Director of O Tahiti E, professional dance group in Tahiti, on Nov 16 in Old Gym 144.

        Lai visited Hawaii to help preparing Polynesia Cultural Center’s 50th Anniversary. She donated her DVDs of dances and songs to BYU-H Joseph Smith Library because she hoped “students will get the chance to watch Tahitian performances and able to do research on it.”

Andre Tauraa, peace building freshman from Tahiti, helped as a translator for Lai; while Lai was speaking in French and Tahitian, Tauraa translated the content into English for the attendees.

        Speaking to the generation now and in the future in Polynesia, Lai said a lot of young islanders are losing their identity because of the loose of the indigenous language and culture. “My topic will be focus on language and how it links the generation now and future to their culture.”

Lai recalled her childhood in Tahiti and how she was discouraged to use her language, “After the Haole [Caucasian] came, people in my culture lose their language….[when I was a child] Children would be published if they spoke Tahitian in school. Speaking Tahitian in Tahiti became a hard thing. When no one still uses the language, we lose the connection with our culture.”

Symbolizing language as dancing, Lai said they both required connection and understanding to the culture. “As a dancer, I don’t just dance for shaking hip but to share the model of my culture. I teach the children, when we dance, we are giving a message and creating a message that we can connect with everyone.”

Lai expressed the partnership with Mother Nature is her key in dancing. “I link to Mother Nature and hear the melody of the nature. I am talking about opening the door of our souls. We are inviting the nature to come and to form connection with us. It is the Mana, something very important for us Polynesians when we are talking about nature and its power. When you are connected to the nature, you know how to dance and how to present the nature.”

“It is interesting to be asked by the young generations ‘How do you know the motion in the dance?’” said Lai. “Because they don’t know the culture. [When they dance] They focus only on the skills and techniques about who can shake faster.”

She continued, “When you go back to the topic of language, kids speak French but not Tahitian. Sometimes, we look for justification of knowing not the language – ‘it is not my fault because my parents didn’t teach me that’ or ‘this language can never give me money and job’. But wait a minute. Your language is the connection to connect yourself to the nation and your culture. It is how you identity yourself as someone in your culture. The children who study aboard, they learn new language and culture; when they go home, how can we know they are a part of us? Only through the language, that’s how we know her/his identity as a Tahitian.” 

“It might be better if I was born in American, but we need to be grateful about who we actually are. It is okay for us to study aboard to know the world, but it is important to know yourself, your root and your identity. I have been all over the world, when I perform, I am not dancing but showing the world who I am and what my culture is,” said Lai.

Lai offered her song and dance to end the lecture. As a conclusion, she said, “We are all brothers and sisters who live on the same planet. Our countries are waiting for us.”

       

       Marguerite Lai is the Director of O Tahiti E, a professional dance group. The group won the dance competition in Tahiti this year, Heiva i Tahiti 2012. She is a prominent figure in the Tahitian culture and a dancer for over 49 years.

       

        Steve chailloux is a Tahitian language professor visiting from The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He commented after the lecture, “We have a saying, when you go to Tahiti, you can see more Tahitian speaking Tahitian than Hawaiian to speak Hawaiian in Hawaii. Compare Tahitian and Hawaiian, Tahiti still has a large number of Tahitian in our country, but they speak more other languages than their own language. It is not a bad thing to teach your children the indigenous language. We need to emphasis the fact that speaking the language of our identity is important. Speak our language before be skillful in speaking other languages.”

         

          Hironui Johnston, Vice President of Tahitian Chapter and a political science senior from French Polynesia, said “It is important to learn and to know who we are in order to lead and to emancipate in the new world. This principle can be applied to all Polynesian and cultures.”