Vakasalewalewa
Vakasalewalewa is the iTaukei Fijian term for people assigned male at birth who live in the manner of a woman. The word translates as acting in the manner of a woman and carries, in Wikipedia's summary, connotations of a traditional cultural way of life.
Featured in
- CollectionCategories That Resist TranslationSeven gender categories routinely given as the local word for transgender, and the specific reason each of those renderings fails.7 entries
- CollectionMVPFAFF: The Pacific Names ItselfSeven Pacific gender categories grouped under an acronym their own communities coined, and the differences the grouping deliberately does not hide.5 entries
The construction is the familiar Pacific one, matching Samoan fa'afafine and Cook Islands Māori akava'ine, and it sits in the same regional set. Missionary and colonial administration sits between the precolonial role and the present word, which is why the traditional framing of the term is itself a modern artefact rather than a survival. The tone of that encounter is on record across the region: gender diversity in the Pacific prompted one English missionary to call his island the filthy Sodom of the South Seas in 1827.
Why many Fijians reject the word
This is the interesting case in the group, and it runs opposite to the usual story. Elsewhere the argument is between an indigenous word and an English translation imposed from outside. Here the pressure comes from within: researchers working with qauri communities in Fiji found that many rejected the label of vakasalewalewa, considering it old-fashioned or restrictive.
The ABC's 2019 survey of Pacific gender categories records the same split, listing vakasalewalewa among the region's traditional terms while its Fijian interviewees reach for the newer word. Qauri is the broader and more current term, used collectively for non-heteronormative male-bodied people in Fiji. It does less traditional work and covers more ground, and for a good many people that is the appeal.
The traditional connotation that makes vakasalewalewa valuable to an outside cataloguer is precisely what makes it unattractive to some of the people it describes. Both facts belong in the entry, and printing only the first would produce the tidier and less true version.
What that means for a catalogue
A category can be well attested, correctly translated, respectfully described and still not be the word people use. Vakasalewalewa is filed here under its own name because that is the name in the regional grouping and in the literature, with the objection recorded rather than tucked into a footnote.
Where vakasalewalewa sits in MVPFAFF
The V in MVPFAFF is this word. The acronym was coined by the community advocate Phylesha Brown-Acton so that Pasifika gender categories were named together on their own terms, and its other members are Mahu, Fa'afafine, Akava'ine and Fakaleiti, along with Papua New Guinean palopa and Niuean fakafifine.
Told apart
Often confused with Vakasalewalewa
- Fa'afafineThe same construction and the same regional grouping, but Samoan society recognises the role in ways Fijian society does not, and the Fijian term is contested at home.
- TransgenderSome qauri and vakasalewalewa people use transgender and some do not. The Fijian terms carry a social position that the English word does not.
Common questions
Questions about Vakasalewalewa
- What does vakasalewalewa mean?
- Acting in the manner of a woman, in Fijian. The construction matches the Samoan and Cook Islands terms, and the word carries connotations of a traditional cultural way of life rather than a purely personal identity.
- Why do some Fijians reject the word?
- Researchers working with qauri communities found that many considered vakasalewalewa old-fashioned or restrictive. The traditional framing that makes the term valuable to an outside observer, and that gets it into catalogues like this one, is exactly what makes it unappealing to a good many of the people it is supposed to describe.
- What is qauri?
- A broader and more current Fijian term used collectively for non-heteronormative male-bodied people. It does less traditional work than vakasalewalewa and covers more ground, which is largely why it has gained on the older word among younger Fijians.
- Is vakasalewalewa part of MVPFAFF?
- Yes, it is the V. The acronym was coined by the community advocate Phylesha Brown-Acton to name Pasifika gender categories collectively, alongside mahu, palopa, fa'afafine, akava'ine, fakaleiti and fakafifine.
Added 2026-08-27 · Revised 2026-08-27
Nearby in the catalogue
Related entries
- Fa'afafineA Samoan role held inside an extended family, not a translation of transgender, and a morphology that repeats right across the Pacific.
- TransgenderAn umbrella with a 1965 medical coinage, a 1994 antonym, and one of the very few gender figures that is a genuine population estimate.
- Akava'ineAn old Cook Islands word carrying a much newer identity, shaped by Polynesian communities in Auckland and carried back to Rarotonga.
- AndrogynosA rabbinic category for a person with both sets of genitals, ruled like a man in some respects and like a woman in others. Greek word, Talmudic use.