The female-headed household literature
By explicitly engaging with feminist post-development thinking, this thesis seeks to consider theories of discourse, deconstruction and difference in order to interrogate and contest the ways in which the category of FHH is constructed and represented. The act of contesting denotes an intellectual space in which certainty, rigid
boundaries and fixed categories are collapsed. Thus, this thesis seeks to challenge universal stereotypes of FHHs that have rendered them to the position of problematic ‘other’ and in doing so it will add to the counter-hegemonic arguments proposed by critical feminist scholars such as Chant (1997a, 1997b, 2003a, 2003b), Momsen (2002), Peters (1995) and Varley (1996) who have argued against seeing FHHs in essentialist terms. It is only when counter-hegemonic discourses challenge the false power of hegemonic discourse that multiple realities will really be known (Foucault 1972, 1980).
In examining the specific situation and experience of FHHs in the Samoan context and rendering visible various realities, this thesis argues for a development approach where the nexus between FHHs and their socio-political, economic and cultural context will be established before any assumptions are made and conclusions are drawn. This is a substantive contribution to the literature because while enquiries into female headship generally attempt to locate the category of FHH within a socio- political cultural context, the importance of placing the socio-political context and culture over and above the category of FHH rarely occurs. To date, FHHs have not been considered so explicitly in relation to cultural frameworks and indigenous knowledge. Thus, seeking to understand the importance of culture in framing the development experiences of FHHs holds considerable significance.
While much has been written about female headship in Latin America, Asia, India and Africa, in the Pacific region very little has been written about this. In development policy and planning, Asia and the Pacific are often lumped together (Fairbairn-Dunlop 2005). When references to the Pacific and FHHs are considered at all, the point of reference then becomes Asia. Hooper (2000) argues that to utilise Asia as a point of reference for the Pacific is hugely problematic. It is especially important to distinguish the Pacific region from the larger Asia Pacific conglomerate in which it is often submerged because:
Culture plays a much more significant role in national economies and national life of Pacific countries than it does in most other regions of the world (Hooper 2000:3).
It is argued time and time again that Pacific peoples generally hold culture and family in high regard, understanding them to be intrinsically linked to development (Barcham 2005, Fairbairn-Dunlop 2005, Pacific Women’s Bureau 2005:24-25).
Therefore to have a Pacific study on FHHs which has culture and family at its core is very important. In providing a Pacific example, this study contributes substantively to the FHH literature.
Pacific development knowledge
In understanding development as a set of culturally embedded practices and meanings (Radcliffe 2006a, 2006b, Radcliffe and Laurie 2006), and in intersecting FHHs with culture, understood to be a flexible, multi-dimensional and creative phenomenon, the importance of indigenous knowledge and cultural frameworks to development planning in the Pacific and possibly elsewhere is also raised. As I noted previously, Pacific people and many indigenous peoples have understood the integral relationship between culture and development for many years, arguing this to be the way forth for development thinking and practice. The coalescing of development, indigenous knowledge(s) and culture will again provide a space for envisioning new approaches to development thinking and practice, and for seeing the ways that people themselves successfully create and pursue opportunities. This study adds to current development debates which call for a more nuanced understanding between culture, indigenous knowledge(s) and development.
Because the new poverty agenda and the MDGs are becoming more explicit in the Pacific, so too are all the trappings that come with these agendas, such as the various development labels and calls for targeting. This was evident in reviewing the Revised Pacific Platform of Action (2005) and has also been noted in the recently released ‘Samoa National Human Development Report’ (2006). It is therefore fundamental that the category of FHH is deconstructed and critiqued in relation to a Pacific framework. Consideration needs to be given to whether the category is of any value to Samoa and indeed the Pacific. The relevance of FHH policy in Samoa will be brought into question. This deconstruction and critique is a major contribution to Pacific development knowledge. While focusing specifically on Samoa, this study may also offer relevant information for other areas in the Pacific. A Pacific example may assist in halting some of the uncritical transference of FHH rhetoric. Finally, in applying a Pacific lens to FHHs, this study will also make a discernible contribution to the wider development and planning literature. This will now be discussed.
The development policy and planning literature
In highlighting how problematic universal labels and categories are, this study questions just how useful the desire to categorise and label really is to Development Studies. External labelling and categorisation has become routine in Development Studies and aid practice even though the purpose of either is rarely examined. The processes whereby labelling and categorisation occurs and the consequences of these processes are also not brought into question (Eyben 2005:2). This study seeks to do this, stressing the problem is not just with the category or label per se, it is also the process whereby people are labelled or categorised. This study suggests that shifting beyond a desire to uncritically categorise and label will provide a space for envisioning new approaches to development thinking and practice, and for seeing the ways that people engage with and in development.
Now that the various ways in which this study intends to contribute to new knowledge have been made clear, the thesis chapters will be outlined.