Beyond the Rim: A Comparative Study of Kava Bowls from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji

Authors

  • Valentin Boissonnas Haute École Arc Conservation-restauration

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.123.4.357-382

Keywords:

kava bowls, yaqona bowls, museum collections, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, West Polynesian interaction

Abstract

The article presents a detailed comparative study of kava mixing bowls associated with the cultural complex of the West Polynesian kava-circle and its Fijian yaqona circle offshoot. By cross-referencing archaeological evidence, documented collection histories and bowl typologies a clearer picture emerges of the centres where the bowls were produced and the formal evolution of these vessels, and also illustrates in a unique way how different groups of people and goods moved and were moved around Western Polynesia in the 18th and 19th century.

Author Biography

Valentin Boissonnas, Haute École Arc Conservation-restauration

Valentin Boissonnas is a lecturer in conservation at the Haute École Arc of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) in the Department of Conservation-Restoration. He graduated from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London in 1994, specialising in
the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects. In 2012 he received a Master’s degree from the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (England). As well as lecturing at the Haute Ecole Arc, he is a freelance conservator in Zurich. His main interests are in the arts and the material culture of Melanesia and Polynesia.
Cover for Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol. 123, No. 4

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Published

2015-03-20

Issue

Vol. 123 No. 4 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

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Dr Marcia Leenen-Young, Editor
The Polynesian Society
c/o School of Māori and Pacific Studies
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland
New Zealand

email: m.leenen@auckland.ac.nz