Extended kinship among urban Samoan migrants: Towards an explanation of its persistence in urban New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines the structure and composition of extended kin groups among Western Samoan migrants in New Zealand, and comments on their role and significance in migrant social organisation.

Certain factors which could explain the continued significance of these groupings are identified and examined. The factors identified suggest that individuals continue to accept the rights and obligations associated with membership of an extended kin group partly because they believe that it is in their interests to do so and partly because they have little option.

The material is placed within the context of the current debate on the relationship between economic organisation and associated kinship structures. The thesis concludes that Western Samoan migrants have retained an extended kin group which closely resembles the modified extended family reported in the family literature, and that under certain conditions extended kin groups may emerge, or persist, in urban industrial societies.