Ep 32: Kava Tonga Part 1 - Stories, Meanings, and Current Issues

This episode builds on the previous discussion with Dr. Aporosa and explores some of the Tongan kava stories compiled in the book Tongan Tales and Myths (Gifford, 1924). Tongan intellectual 'Inoke Hu'akau's position is that kava stories are part of a cosmological identity based in stories of creation, kava, and the Gods. Hu'akau has proposed that kava stories are constructed for social and political purposes, which "serve as the mode of operation for society" (see 'Kava: A mitre touch of a master political architecture', 2018, Lo'au University Research Journal). Kava stories, meanings, and interpretations are considered alongside some current issues such as the regional kava codex, which relates to quality and safety in kava production and consumption. This episode seeks to demonstrate how kava stories relate to various ancestral and current issues and concludes with a contemporary kava song composition that seeks to remember ancestral connections and knowledge. This episode is complimentary to the documentary film Kava Rootz which is available to watch online.