ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the experiences of migrant fa'afafine in the wider story of the Samoan diaspora, with a particular focus on how fa'aSamoa has been maintained in, and adapted to, the Aotearoa/New Zealand context. It explains fa'afafine's motivations for migration echo those of all Samoans, although for fa'afafine the movement from one cultural field to another entails particularly unique processes of adjustment. The chapter examines a paradigm shift in western perceptions of migrants, in which pluralism and multiculturalism are valued over conformity. For migrant fa'afafine, the initial period of living in Aotearoa/New Zealand is often a time of having to enact plural, at times contradictory and frequently 'false' gender behaviours. The distress model of transsexualism provides a useful lens through which to interpret the experiences of migrant fa'afafine and understand how they perceive these experiences. Conversely, transsexuals who articulate themselves as having always been feminine/women/transsexual almost inevitably conceptualise their histories of masculinity as inappropriate.
