Akava'ine

Akava'ine is a Cook Islands Māori word which has come, since the 2000s, to refer to transgender people of Māori descent from the Cook Islands.

It may be an old custom but has a contemporary identity influenced by other Polynesians, through cross-cultural interaction of Polynesians living in New Zealand, especially the Samoan fa'afafine, Third Gender people who hold a special place in Samoan society.[1]

  1. ^ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "3. – Gender diversity – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". www.teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2015-03-06.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search