BYU Featured In BBC Documentary "Polynesian 'Luau' In Unfamiliar Surroundings"

Sep 16, 2011 - Posted by Kenny Cox on September 16, 2011 at 10:50 am | Updated: September 16, 2011 11:11 am

The BYU football team was recently featured in the BBC's documentary called "Polynesian 'Luau' In Unfamiliar Surroundings."

The documentary follows the Polynesian migration to Utah and the current culture in the state. It mentions that at times, as much as 30 percent of BYU's football team is of Polynesian descent.

For a time, the documentary was the most watched video on the BBC's US website, and a three-minute version aired on BBC Worldwide and PBS stations across the country.

An brief description from the BBC of the documentary here:

The state of Utah counts more Polynesians per capita than any other state on the American mainland. Lured by the Mormon church, immigrants and descendants from Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii have grown three times as fast as the rest of the state's population over the last decade.

But the community still struggles to adapt to the American culture. The youngest generation, often the first ones of the family born in the US, feel caught between two worlds. The result is higher-than-average gang violence and dropout rates.

The BBC's Franz Strasser went to Utah to see what challenges this small community still faces and how it plans to tackle them.

CLICK HERE to watch the documentary.

 

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