Gagana Sāmoa, from the mountains come blessings

Celebrating Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa, Sāmoa Language Week (31 May – 6 June), and its theme: “E afua mai i mauga tetele manuia o le nu‘u” - from the high mountains are the blessings of the village.

The proverb speaks to the well-being and success of a community coming from its strongest foundations - its ancestors, leaders, environment, culture and faith. A reminder that our blessings, knowledge and identity are nurtured and passed down through these “mountains”, guiding and sustaining future generations.

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Fonoiā Professor Sipaea Jemaima Tiatia-Siau can attest to the blessings passed down from the high mauga (mountain).

A proud Sāmoan academic and leader, with Tongan ancestry, the career of Professor Tiatia-Siau (Sālelologa, Taga, Vaimoso, Siumu, Vaigaga, and Fusi Safata) reflects a commitment to tautua (service) grounded in alofa.

“The journey of gagana Sāmoa is a lifelong one.” she says “It’s about having the courage to make mistakes along the way as well as the heart and spirit to continue learning about and living your culture,” despite Aotearoa being almost 3,000 km from the motherland.

Over the past 150 years, the Sāmoan population in Aotearoa has grown from just six people to more than 213,000 - one of the most significant Pacific diasporas in the world.

While Sāmoa itself is home to around 220,000 people, the global Sāmoan population is estimated at between 700,000 and 800,000. The largest communities now live across Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States, Australia and Sāmoa itself - a reminder that the majority of Sāmoans now live beyond their ancestral homeland, carrying language, culture and identity across the globe.

On the gagana journey

“I’m on the gagana Sāmoa journey, and it comes down to - practise, practise, practise… it does take some courage. But it is such a beautiful language,” Tiatia-Siau reflects.

A reminder, she says that language lives not only in fluency, but in everyday use - and in the vā that connects all things, and for people across generations.

From youth development to community well-being, her work has centred Pacific values and lived realities, ensuring research translates into meaningful and purposeful change. Her expertise spans mental health and well-being, suicide prevention and postvention, youth development, and climate change and mental well-being and its impacts on Pacific communities.

She has played a pivotal role in shaping national and global conversations - serving on the Government’s Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry and contributing to the development of Aotearoa’s mental health and well-being frameworks and a World Health Organization technical expert around climate, health and ethics for the Western Pacific.

Groundbreaking research for Pacific communities

Tiatia-Siau has produced an extraordinary body of work, research deeply rooted in Pacific communities. She conducted the first national review of suicide among Pacific peoples in Aotearoa and went on to develop national suicide postvention guidelines - work that has had lasting impact on policy, practice and community well-being.

Her scholarship has helped shift the narrative - placing Pacific voices, knowledge systems and cultural frameworks at the centre of solutions.

Today, her influence extends across the region. As a Foundation Fellow of the Pacific Academy of Sciences, and chair of its research committee, she is part of a growing movement of Pacific scholars shaping research that is both globally connected and culturally grounded.

Her work continues to strengthen connections across the Pacific, championing collaboration, Indigenous knowledge systems, and Pacific-led solutions to shared challenges.

Leading with Pacific values

At the heart of her leadership is a commitment to Pacific ways of knowing, doing and being - alofa (love), tautua (service), reciprocity and the vā (the sacred relational space).

Speaking at the Pacific Academy of Sciences Congress in Sāmoa, she highlighted the importance of Pacific-led knowledge and leadership - ensuring Indigenous knowledge systems stand alongside western scientific methods and translate into real, equitable outcomes for Pacific peoples.

This vision of leadership moves beyond access towards transformation - where Pacific communities are not only included, but leading.

A deeply personal journey of identity and remembrance

This year, her journey has also taken on a deeply personal dimension. Tiatia Siau, recently received the blessings from the mauga of her malu - the sacred traditional markings worn on the thighs of Sāmoan women.

The moment came just a week after Mother’s Day, carried out in remembrance of her beloved late grandmother Suresa Gavet nee Falaniko Mauava, a guiding presence whose influence continues to shape her life and work. A month earlier, both Tiatia-Siau and her mother Joyce Tiatia were blessed at the foot of the mauga, and bestowed the chiefly title Fonoiā, from her grandmother’s village of Salogā, in Sālelologa, Savai’i.

“It’s not an adornment - it is a deeply spiritual and sacred blessing to receive from atop the mauga, this measina (treasure) which represents a commitment and service to family, community, village, nation as well as cultural continuity and legitimacy. In honouring my ancestors, I’m committed to acknowledging the sacrifices that were made for me and their descendants every single day.”

“I also want to acknowledge the generations prior, in this country that were prohibited from speaking Gagana Sāmoa in their schools and workplaces.”

Through her life’s work and in the legacy she has embodied through her ancestors to carry forward, Tiatia-Siau leads with alofa, to serve with purpose, and to honour those who paved the way.