Alcohol, Drug, and Tobacco Study Group

An Interest Group of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Medical Anthropology

Compiled by Mac Marshall

            No attempt is made here to be exhaustive.  Rather, the following listings will provide an entrée into the wider literature on each of these substances.  Many of these citations also contain substantial bibliographies of their own that the reader can explore.

 Kava

            There are three relatively recent and important books on kava, and each of them contains a good deal of additional bibliography on this drug.  These three volumes are:

Brunton, Ron  1989  The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in

            Melanesia.  New York: Cambridge University Press.  216 pp.

Lebot, Vincent, Mark Merlin and Lamont Lindstrom  1992  Kava, The Pacific Drug.

            New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.  255 pp.

Pollock, Nancy [convenor]  1995  The Power of Kava.  Special Issue of Canberra

            Anthropology 18(1&2): 1-235.

            In addition, here are a few recent journal articles, book chapters, and the like that also provide references to additional kava literature:

Marshall, Mac  2004a  Market highs: Alcohol, drugs and the global economy in Oceania.

            In Globalization and Culture Change in the Pacific Islands, ed. Victoria S.

            Lockwood.  Pp. 200-221.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.  [This chapter

            includes major sections on kava and on betel.]

Marshall, Mac 2004b  Kava.  In Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An

            International Encyclopedia, Vols. 1 and 2, eds. Jack S. Blocker, Jr., David M.

            Fahey and Ian R. Tyrrell.  Pp. 345-346.  Santa Barbara, CA: ABC Clio Press.

Marshall, Mac 1987  An overview of drugs in Oceania.  In Drugs in Western Pacific

            Societies: Relations of Substance, ed. Lamont Lindstrom.  ASAO Monograph No.

11.    Pp. 13-49.  Lanham, MD: University Press of America.  [This chapter

includes major sections on kava and on betel.]

Tomlinson, Matt 2004 Perpetual lament: Kava-drinking, Christianity and sensations of

            historical decline in Fiji.  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (n.s.) 10:

            653-673.

 Betel

            Considerably less relatively recent work has been published by anthropologists on betel than on kava and there are no book-length treatments.  Marshall (1987, 2004a; listed above under kava also covers much of the current literature on betel).   Consequently, in what follows I include references to pieces written by scholars other than anthropologists, as well as anthropologists themselves:

Cawte, John 1985  Psychoactive substances of the South Seas: Betel, kava and pituri. 

       Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 19: 83-87.

Hirsch, Eric 1990  From bones to betelnuts: Processes of ritual transformation and the

       development of ‘national culture’ in Papua New Guinea.  Man (n.s.) 25(1): 18-34.

Iamo, Wari 1987  One of the things that brings good name is betel: A Keakalo conception

       of betel use.  In Drugs in Western Pacific Societies: Relations of Substance, ed.

       Lamont Lindstrom.  ASAO Monograph No. 11.  Pp. 135-148.  Lanham, MD:

       University Press of America.

Lepowsky, Maria 1982  A comparison of alcohol and betelnut use on Vanatinai (Sudest

       Island).  In Through a Glass Darkly: Beer and Modernization in Papua New Guinea,

       ed. Mac Marshall.  IASER Monograph No. 18.  Pp. 325-342.  Boroko: Papua New

       Guinea Institute of Applied Social & Economic Research.

Lichtenberk, Frantisek 1998  Did speakers of Proto Oceanic chew betel?  Journal of the

       Polynesian Society 107(4): 335-363.

Mosko, Mark S. 1999  Magical money.  In Money and Modernity: State and Local

       Currencies in Melanesia, eds. David Akin and Joel Robbins.  ASAO Monograph No.

17.    Pp. 41-61.  Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press.  [This chapter focuses

on the growth and sale of betel chewing ingredients for the Port Moresby market by the Mekeo people of Papua New Guinea.]

Pickwell, Sheila M., Samrang Schimelpfening and Lawrence A. Palinkas 1994 

       ‘Betelmania’: Betel quid chewing by Cambodian women in the United States and its

       potential health effects.  Western Journal of Medicine 160: 326-330.

Pinhey, Thomas K., Randall L. Workman and Joseph P. Borja 1992  Women’s use of

       betel nut, alcohol, and tobacco on Guam.  ISLA: A Journal of Micronesian Studies

       1(2): 413-423.

Reid, Anthony 1985  From betel-chewing to tobacco-smoking in Indonesia.  Journal of

       Asian Studies 44(3): 529-547.

Schwimmer, Eric 1982  Betelnut: The beer of the Orokaiva.  In Through a Glass Darkly:

       Beer and Modernization in Papua New Guinea, ed. Mac Marshall.  IASER

       Monograph No. 18.  Pp. 319-323.  Boroko: Papua New Guinea Institute of Applied

       Social & Economic Research.

Sullivan, Roger J., John S. Allen, Caleb Otto, Josepha Tiobech and Karen Nero  2000 

       Effects of chewing betel nut (Areca catechu) on the symptoms of people with

       schizophrenia in Palau, Micronesia.  British Journal of Psychiatry 177: 174-178.

Watson, Pamela 1987  Drugs in trade.  In Drugs in Western Pacific Societies: Relations

       of Substance, ed. Lamont Lindstrom.  ASAO Monograph No. 11.  Pp. 119-134. 

       Lanham, MD: University Press of America.  [This chapter examines the raising,

       trading and sale of betel chewing ingredients and tobacco among the Biwat people of

       Papua New Guinea.]

Ysaol, Joseph, Joseph I. Chilton and Paul Callaghan 1996  A survey of betel nut chewing

       in Palau.  ISLA: A Journal of Micronesian Studies 4(1): 244-255.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Feedback ] [ Search ] [ Conferences ] [ Associations ] [ Journals ]

Send mail to cdaley@kumc.edu with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 11/17/06