Cindy Azoub

Professor Miller

American History

July 19, 2010

Samoa Versus United States Culture

The culture of Samoa and the United States are different in many ways. Some of the

main areas where they differ are dances, economy, and sports.

The Samoans’ indigenous dance was retained from their culture, whereas, people in the

U.S. do not know the dance of their ancestors. In Samoa, some types of dances are modern

dances by the younger generations rather than the United States where the dances constantly

change with new music. Samoan dance traditions reflect contact between Samoan culture and

other cultures from the East and West. Influences from rap can be detected, but traditional

Samoan styles of movement and traditional clothing are also used. On the contrary, there is great

variety in dance in the United States of America. It is the home of the hip-hop dance and its

derivative Rock and Roll, and modern square dance. In my opinion, the dance moves in Samoa

are peaceful, but not all of them, whereas the dances in the U.S. often differ from each other, are

also fascinating.

The economy of Samoa has traditionally been dependent on development aid, family

remittances from overseas, agriculture, and fishing. The country is vulnerable and devastated

with storms. Agriculture employs two-thirds of the labor force, featuring coconut cream,

coconut oil, and copra. The decline of fish stocks in the area is a continuing problem. Foreign

reserves are in a relatively healthy state, the external debt is stable, and inflation is low.

However the U.S. has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world. In
this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the

decisions.

The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union, Samoan cricket, and netball. Rugby

union is the national football code of Samoa. In Samoan villages, volleyball is also popular.

Although, in the U.S., baseball has been regarded as the national sport. American football,

basketball, and ice hockey are the country's three other leading professional team sports. College

football and basketball attract large audiences. Rugby league is also popular amongst Samoans,

with Samoa reaching the quarter finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Many Samoans

and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National

Leagues in Britain. In contrast, most major U.S. sports have evolved out of European practices,

basketball, volleyball, skateboarding, snowboarding, and cheerleading are American inventions.

Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate

Western contact.

Samoa and the United States are obviously different, but similar in some ways. Even

though, Samoan and the U.S. dances are different, their music rhythm is almost the same.

Samoa struggles to keep the economy independent on the contrast the U.S. does not. The U.S.

has many sports to decide from, and don’t just have one main sport rather than Samoa which has

one main sport called rugby union. Overall both Samoa and the United States are wonderful,

beautiful, and amazing countries.