Wayfinding Under the Stars
Date
Authors
Iosefo, Fetaui
Iosefo, Joshua
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Abstract
This voyage follows a mother–son practice of vā wayfinding—an Indigenous method of relational navigation and critical autoethnography. Through poetic fragments, intergenerational talanoa (relational dialogue), and moments of spiritual encounter, the narrative traces how Sāmoan diasporic identities are held, fractured, and rewoven across shifting relational currents. Grounded in vā tapuia (sacred relational space) as both ontology and method, this work shows how knowledge arises through collective witnessing, ethical refusal, and genealogical responsibility. Here, story becomes ceremony, silence becomes epistemology, and memory becomes a navigational star. Aligned with Presence Tense, this voyage reveals histories shaped through relational accountability and ancestral presence. Vā wayfinding emerges not as metaphor but as lived epistemology—formed through ’āiga, spirituality, and the ongoing work of becoming—inviting readers toward futures guided by story, presence, and Indigenous relational ethics.Description
Keywords
44 Human Society, 1399 Other Education, vā tapuia (sacred relational space), vā wayfinding (relational navigation), Indigenous autoethnography, Sāmoan diaspora, relational presence, talanoa (relational dialogue), ancestral memory
Source
International Review of Qualitative Research, ISSN: 1940-8447 (Print); 1940-8455 (Online), SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1177/19408447251403482
Publisher's version
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© 2025 International Institute for Qualitative Inquiry. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).