Gershon, Ilana2023-11-072023-11-072006Gershon, I. (2006). When Culture Is Not A System: Why Samoan Cultural Brokers Can Not Do Their Job. Ethnos, 71(4), 533–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141840601050700https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115307In independent and American Samoa, Samoan representatives have historically been successful at furthering their communities' interests when dealing with various colonial regimes. Yet during my fieldwork in California, I kept witnessing failed encounters between Samoan migrants and government officials. I argue that government officials helped create these problems through the ways they expected Samoan migrants to act as culture-bearers. I conclude by exploring how cultural mediators become the focal point for tensions generated by the contradictory assumptions government system-carriers and Samoan culture-bearers hold about how to relate to social orders.engThis work is protected by copyright, and is made available here for research and educational purposes. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Journal articleMigrantswelfarecultural mediatorspolitical representationhttps://doi.org/10.1080/00141840601050700