Visual anthropology and intangible cultural heritage preservation in American Samoa

This article describes a pioneering initiative in applied visual anthropology which was undertaken in the 1990s in the United States Territory of American Samoa. In response to the perceived increasing Western media influence in the archipelago, filming skills were developed locally as an Indigenous intervention for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. In his role at the American Samoa Community College, the author was responsible for training Samoan students in the theory and practice of ethnography and visual anthropology. He collaborated with Samoan colleagues and students to identify and coordinate film projects and events that would contribute to the transmission of aspects of Samoan cultural heritage to the next generation. Through the description of several film projects, this work is conceptualized as an “indigenizing anthropology” effort towards the continuity of intangible cultural heritage in American Samoa.