This beautifully presented book is the first history and social analysis of the Sāmoa tatau. Early accounts by foreign seafarers from 1722 onwards suggest that in the past all Sāmoan men were tattooed, as a rite of passage to manhood. The word ‘tattoo’ itself is probably derived from the Sāmoan word tatau or a cognate term in another Polynesian language, popularised by seafarers in the 18th and 19th century. Sāmoans refer to the masculine tatau as pe’a which, because it densely covers a man’s buttocks and thighs, was mistaken by some 17th century seafarers, peering through their spyglasses, as a pair of breeches or painting. The lighter, feminine version is termed ‘malu’ and covers a woman’s thigh and the back of her knee.
