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The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia
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The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia Hardcover - 1990

by Ron Brunton


From the publisher

Ron Brunton revives a problem posed by the great anthropologist W. H. R. Rivers in History of Melanesian Society (1914): how to explain the strange geographical distribution of kava, a narcotic drink once widely consumed by south-west Pacific islanders. Rivers believed that it was abandoned by many people even before European contact in favour of another drug, betel, drawing his speculations from the ideas of the diffusionist school of anthropology. However, Dr Brunton disagrees. Taking the varying fortunes of kava on the island of Tanna, Vanauta, as his starting point, he suggests that kava's abandonment can best be explained in terms of its association with unstable religious cults, and not because of the adoption of betel. The problem of kava is therefore part of a broader problem of why many traditional Melanesian societies were characteristically highly unstable, and Dr Brunton sees this instability as both an outcome and a cause of weak institutions of authority and social coordination.

Details

  • Title The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia
  • Author Ron Brunton
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
  • Date August 31, 1990
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780521373753 / 0521373751
  • Weight 1.03 lbs (0.47 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.98 x 5.98 x 0.75 in (22.81 x 15.19 x 1.91 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Rivers, W. H. R, Tanna (Vanuatuan people) - Drug use
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 89031240
  • Dewey Decimal Code 394.14
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The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia

The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia

by Brunton, Ron

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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Hardcover. Jacket is a little shelfworn with some faint scratches. The upper leading board corners are a little bumped. Small stamp on the title page. All content remains clear. Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology; 69. Shop stock, faint pencil price on end-paper. CM. Hardcover. Very Good. Used.
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The Abandoned Narcotic. Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia.
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The Abandoned Narcotic. Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia.

by Brunton, Ron.

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780521373753 / 0521373751
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. viii,219pp, index, glossary, references, bw ills, maps. Or brown cloth lacking jacket. Ex-university library with more than the usual number of stamps etc (inc cancelled stamp). The use of Kava among the Tanna people of Vanuatu.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good. 8vo. Ex-Library.
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The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia
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The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia

by Brunton, Ron

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780521373753 / 0521373751
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Cambridge University Press, 1990. Hardcover. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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The Abandoned Narcotic. Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia.
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The Abandoned Narcotic. Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia.

by Brunton, Ron.

  • Used
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  • Hardcover
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Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780521373753 / 0521373751
Quantity Available
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Ashmore, Queensland, Australia
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. viii,219pp, index, glossary, references, bw ills, maps. Or brown cloth, no jacket. Slight fading at top of front cover, some foxing to endpapers/edges/prelims. SIGNED and inscribed (To Marney) by author on front free endpaper. The use of Kava among the Tanna people of Vanuatu.. Signed & Inscribed by the Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo.
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A$50.00
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