Kava - The Pacific Plant
BYU-H Pacific Islands Research Room
Pathfinder 2005

Kava: the Pacific Plant Kava known also as 'awa, yaqona, and piper methysticum, is a cerebral depressant drug found throughout many of the Pacific Islands. This plant was a major part of religious, political, and social activities in Pacific cultures. Today kava has become a cash crop for some islands as Western pharmaceutical companies are experimenting with its medicinal properties.

This guide identifies for you materials in our collection on the following aspects of kava: For further information, look for books with similar call numbers in the various sections of our collection. In addition, look on our online catalog in the Keyword (subject) index under Kava or in one of the bibliographies listed in this guide.

Almost all of the books listed are located specifically in the Pacific Islands Research Room. In the Pacific Island room, the (movable) stacks go in order of Reference Collection, General Collection, Folio, followed by Special Collections, which are in the locked case. You will need the assistance of the reference librarian for a remote to move the bookshelf.

 

General Overview

P.I. QK495.P67L43 1997
Lebot, Vincent, Mark Merlin, and Lamont Lindstrom.
Kava: The Pacific Elixir.
Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1995.

P.I. QK495.P67P68 1995
Guinness, Patrick and Michael W. Young eds.
The Power of Kava.
Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1995.

P.I. QK495.P67L43 1992
Lebot, Vincent, Mark Merlin, and Lamont Lindstrom.
Kava: the Pacific Drug.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.

Deihl, Joseph.
"Kava and Kava Drinking"
Anthropological Quarterly:V-5, no1-4(1932) p.61-68
(available online)

KavaRoot.com
http://kavaroot.com/

Back to top

Bibliographies

P.I. Folio QK495.P67L4
Cabalion, Pierre, and Vincent Lebot.
Kavas of Vanuatu.
Noumea: South Pacific Commission, 1988: 153-191.

P.I. Reference QK495.P67S56
Singh, Y. N.
Kava: A Bibliography.
Suva: Pacific Islands Centre, The University of the South Pacific, 1986.

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Freund, Paul and Marshall, Mac.
"Research Bibliography of Alcohol and Kava Studies in Oceania." Micronesia (1977): 313-317.

Lee Kagan's Kava Page
http://www.prairienet.org/~kagan/usage.htm

Back to top

Financial

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Johnston, Ranadi.
"The Millions in Kava."
Islands Business Pacific (May 1997): 18-22.

P.I. Microfilm Periodicals
Sofer, Michael.
"Yaqona and Peripheral Economy."
Pacific Viewpoint (Vol. 26, pt. 2 1985): 415-436.

Back to top

Botanical

P.I. QK473.S3S27
Setchell, William.
American Samoa.
Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution, 1924.

P.I. Folio QK495.P67L4
Cabalion, Pierre, and Vincent Lebot.
Kavas of Vanuatu.
Noumea: South Pacific Commission, 1988.

P.I. Locked Case DU600.D42
Degener, Otto.
Naturalist's South Pacific Expedition: Fiji.
Honolulu: Paradise of the Pacific, 1949.

Back to top

Medicinal

General RM666.K6C37
Cass, Hyla.
Kava: Nature's Answer to Stress, Anxiety and Insomnia.
Rocklin, California: Prima Health, 1998.


P.I. GN671.N6K55 1996
Kilham, Christopher.
Kava : Medicine Hunting in Paradise.
Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 1996.

P.I. RM666.H33W448
Whistler, Arthur W.
Polynesian Herbal Medicine.
Kauai: National Tropical Botanical Garden, 1992.

P.I. QK495.P67S7
Steinmetz, E. F.
Kava Kava: Famous Drug Plant of the South Sea Islands. Amsterdam: The Twentieth Century Alchemist, 1973.

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Norton, Scott.
"Hawaii Medicine in Hawaii: From Tradition to Convention."
Hawaii Medical Journal (January 1998): 382-386.

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Buckley, Joseph P.
"The Pharmacology of Kava."
Journal of the Polynesian Society (March 1967): 101-2.

Kava-Drug Choice in the Pacific http://www.mauigateway.com/~kava/

Back to top

Ceremonial

P.I. DU600.42.D37 1985
Dari, Willie and Solange Petit-Skinner.
Fijian Protocol.
San Francisco: MacDuff Press, 1985: 21-26, 32-33, 53-68.

P.I. GN473.T36
Taofinu'u, Pio.
O le ˙ava o se pelofetaga = The Kava Ceremony is a Prophecy. n.p., n.d.

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Collocott, E.
"Kava Ceremonial in Tonga."
Journal of The Polynesian Society (March 1927): 21-47.

VTV4903
Fakapangai: In the Circle of the Sovereignty.
La'ie: Polynesian Culture Center, 1995.

Smith, S. Percy.
"Kava Drinking Ceremonies among the Samoans."
Journal of Polynesian Society;V.29:114(1920, JUNE): pg. 1-21
(online)

Back to top

Social

P.I. DU760.B84 1989
Burton, Ron.
The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

P.I. GN473.F47
Firth, Raymond.
"A Basic Religious Rite - The Kava." in Rank and Religion in Tikopia.
London: Allen & Unwin, 1970: 199-232.

P.I. GN670.W53
Williamson, Robert.
Essays in Polynesian Ethnology.
New York: Cooper Square, 1975.

P.I. Bound Periodicals
Luders, David.
"Legend and History: Did the Vanuatu-Tonga Kava Trade Cease in A.D. 1447?"
Journal of Polynesian Society (September 1996): 287-310.
(located online as well)

P.I. Folio N7410.M4 1995
Meyer, Anthony.
Oceanic Art.
Koln, Germany: Konemann, 1995

Kava In Vanuatu http://www.members.shaw.ca/scombs/kava.html

Sakau -- Pohnpei's Communal Narcotic http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/people/sakau.htm

Back to top

Literature

P.I. PR9619.3.B4E2 1896
Becke, Louis.
"At a Kava - Drinking." In The Ebbing of the Tide.
London: T Fisher Unwin, 1896: 63-82.

P.I. PR9619.3.O36N6 1961
O'Grady, John.
No Kava for Johnny.
Sydney: Halstead Press, 1961.

Back to top

 
*All images used were taken from the above websites
Created by Becky Rathgeber
Last Updated 4.21.05