Wayfinding Under the Stars

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

Accountability · Indigenous · Metaphor · Narrative · Ontology · Poetry · Relational theory · Silence · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights

• Evocative Autoethnography

  A P Bochner, Arthur Bochner et al.•Evocative Autoethnography•2016

  Add to list

• Interpretive Autoethnography

  Norman K Denzin•Interpretive Autoethnography•2014

  Add to list