The title of this recording is "Shevon Matai". It is described as: Shevon Matai from American Samoa talks about attending the human rights conference. It was recorded in Wellington Town Hall, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington on the 16th March 2011. Shevon Matai is being interviewed by Gareth Watkins.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 8 minutes. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. A brief description of the recording is: In this podcast Shevon Matai from American Samoa talks about attending the human rights conference. The content in the recording covers the decades 1960s through to the 2010s. A brief summary of the recording is: This summary pertains to an eight-minute podcast recorded at Wellington Town Hall, where Shevon Matai, a delegate from American Samoa, was interviewed by Gareth Watkins on the 16th of March, 2011. The focus of the interview was Matai's participation in a human rights conference and the presentation of their research paper on the topic of Polari, a language with roots in the UK's gay community dating back to the 1600s. Matai's paper explores the remarkable phenomenon of how Polari, despite its origins in the UK, shares morphological features with a homosexual language that independently developed in Samoa. The study reveals that, without direct interaction, these languages evolved in remarkably similar ways across the world. Matai gives examples of linguistic similarities, such as the use of backslang and the word "dolly," which both have counterparts in Samoan gay language. This linguistic mirroring is a focal point of Matai's work, emphasizing the global commonalities within homosexual communities despite geographical separation. Matai delves into Polari's historical context, explaining how it served as a coded language that offered protection and secrecy to homosexuals, especially prior to the legalization of homosexual acts in the UK in the 1960s. Parallelly, Samoan homosexuals used their language to safeguard their private discussions, particularly those involving individuals with societal and political stature. By doing so, Matai highlights a common thread where marginalized groups had to resort to linguistic creativity to navigate a world that was not always accepting. The interview progresses to discuss the contemporary status of Polari and similar languages. In American Samoa, elements of this language have permeated into common usage among youth, potentially threatening to displace traditional Samoan speech. Through the paper, Matai seeks to raise awareness among the new generation in order to preserve the language's heritage and true function without eroding the informal spoken language of Samoa. The fear expressed is that a genuine piece of cultural and communal identity could be lost in the process. Matai also points out that despite the association with the United States and the promise of equality and freedom, American Samoa, being a US territory in Polynesia, still experiences discrimination, mocking, and mistreatment analogous to that faced by individuals in independent Samoa. Matai mentions the existence of support networks and organizations in American Samoa, such as an association for fa'afafine - individuals who identify with both male and female gender traits - highlighting their community work and partnerships with NGOs like the Red Cross. This interconnectedness strengthens not only the individuals within these groups but also their impact on broader social issues. Lastly, projecting into the future, Matai expresses a desire that people in 30 years will recognize and appreciate their identity, akin to knowing their heart. Matai suggests that by understanding oneself fully, one can find an authentic place within their family, government, island, and the global community. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  Hi. My name is Siobhan, and I'm a, uh, I'm from American Samo. I'm a delegate from American Samoa, and I am presenting at the conference. I'm one of the presenter, and I'll be talking about my paper on, uh, polari and language. Polari is a gay language from that, uh, originated from, uh, UK. But, um, it's it from the language in the 16 hundreds. Yes, very interesting to know that, um, there was [00:00:30] there is a gay language, which it was documented by Paul Paul Baker. But, um, what's more interesting to us from the Pacific, especially from from Samoa, is that we've never talked, but we adopt the same morphology of developing this homosexual language. It's amazing. It's amazing to find out how homosexuals of the world, uh, would come to have this language that is [00:01:00] that has similarities. And that's what my paper is about. Can can you give me some examples? Oh, of course. Um, the word dolly is a polari word. And using it, um, from the doll, you know, appreciating the doll. Another mythology, that is very, um uh, common in both the, um in both the and the, uh and language is backslang [00:01:30] So I and, uh are, um, the words for face and hair. And in Samoa, it's popular to speak our tongue backwards in the word which is thing, and we say it. So we it was interesting to find out that this, uh, polari language is has similarities to the language, which is for homosexuals [00:02:00] of Samoa. The reason that I wanted to talk about this slang it's because of its usage. In those days, polari was used as a coded language, a secret language to code. The words were coded to protect homosexuals in the military, protect them from the public. As you know, that in the UK before the 19 sixties, um before they [00:02:30] they had allowed homosexual homosexual acts in in UK it was they were not allowed. And they would have to create this language, uh, to, uh, protect them and be secret, secretive of their sexuality as gays. Uh, for American Samoa, it was it was similar in the sense where, uh, we would use the language to, uh, disguise our conversations with, um with each other as we talk [00:03:00] about our nights with, uh, men of status. Uh, that that that is status in culture and in, um, in culture and in poli politics. So, um, I don't know why we would have to go through the extent of having such a language, uh, to disguise our conversations. And, um, but to live, uh, in a in a world that you know it it's accepted. [00:03:30] So that that's the point where I would like to point out when I do my presentation. Is the language still used today for American? Yes. Um, now, the students of elementary and high school are talking at even heterosexual people. Um, I'm afraid that it might replace the for the, uh, informal, uh, language of Samoa. I'm afraid of that. So this paper also serves as an awareness to, um [00:04:00] uh to the, uh, new generation and the people that are coming by that are, you know, people of American Samoa to understand that the origin of the, uh of the language as well as its purpose that way that they would not replace the, uh, the informal language or the casual language for polari. I know that when, um in the sixties, they, uh, homosexuality was allowed. Then the language started to die down a little [00:04:30] although it is still used, you can Google polari as in POLAR I and you will see its usage on, um uh on the YouTube because there was a radio programme called around the horn and it was they were using that that that was the language that they were using in around the horn in the UK. So it's Yeah, it's it's used and I think it It's history and for for the for the gay community as well as and it's it's it's [00:05:00] it's an, uh, the language, I would think as as it as as an heirloom that we have to keep and to pass on. Generally speaking, what are the, um, rights, like now in with, uh, American for, um, American Samoa is under the United States flag. And you know, when you are a territory of the United States, it comes with freedom and equality, but that we cannot, uh, rule out the fact that we [00:05:30] are from the Pacific and American Samoa is the only territory of the United States in, uh, Polynesia and and, um, we identify with our sisters from, uh, the Independent Samoa and all the, uh, the the and all the hardship of life as a that they see, although that we're from from American Samoa [00:06:00] and the territory of the United States. But we always We also see, uh, mistreatment. Um uh, mockery. Um, we see that in in in American Samoa, even though that it's a territory of the United States. These things are are are are visible, uh, for us in American Samoa, and we have to, um we have to treat it in in some in some respect to, um, secure [00:06:30] ourselves and maintain our protection, other support groups or other networks. Uh, yes, we have the association, uh, for association called, um, so it's an acronym from, um, Society of in American Samoa. And using acronym with names is another, uh, morphology in, uh, gay language A lot. They use that a lot. [00:07:00] And, um, the this organisation, uh, we work very closely with home with home of the elderly, uh, convalescent homes with the Red Cross. We do a lot of, uh, donations to Red Cross to, um, home of the elderly in American Samoa, as well as, uh, in Independent Samoa. There is networking between two associations, um, Sofia's and which is association [00:07:30] Yes, networking in in government issues that pertaining to education. Because this is the field where most are are are in as well as issues that pertains to us as if we're looking ahead 30 years and somebody is listening to this in 30 years time. Is there something that you would say to them? I would like to tell them that is an identity. And I would [00:08:00] like for them to know their identity as they would know their heart, because in that you would know your place in your family, in your government, in your island and in the world. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 1960s ; 2010s ; American Samoa ; Asia Pacific Outgames ; Pacific ; People ; Polynesia ; Samoa ; Shevon Matai ; Wellington ; Wellington Town Hall ; community ; conference ; culture ; education ; equality ; fa'afafine ; face ; family ; freedom ; gay ; government ; hair ; heirloom ; heterosexual ; history ; homosexual ; human rights ; identity ; language ; listening ; march ; military ; other ; polarity ; policy ; politics ; radio ; respect ; school ; sexuality ; support ; time ; transgender ; treat ; work. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/apog_shevon_matai.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand.  For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1089489. Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.