Refiti, Albert LEngels-Schwarzpaul, Anna Christina2025-12-182025-12-182025-09-22Zeitschrift für Ethnologie/Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology, ISSN: 0044-2666 (Print), 150(1). https://zfejsca.org/ojs/index.php/jsca/issue/view/150-10044-2666http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20432The Samoan world opens with the notion of nu‘u tofi, in which every person is assigned a place or position that resonates with culture, polity, citizenship and governance. Tofi (or tofiga) places Samoans according to their ancestral connections within the order of the Samoan world, as ‘the reference point of political action and motivation’ (Tui Atua) – for instance, matai (chiefs) sitting in front of the pou (posts) of the fale (house).This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/1601 Anthropology4401 Anthropologyfa‘a Sāmoafale SāmoaSamoan architecturelocality and placemobility and belongingJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.60827/zfe/jsca.v150i1.3764