抄録
Until recently, kava, a psychoactive drink used in the Pacific region, was unknown in Kiribati, where the plant cannot grow given the severe ecological conditions of atolls; but in recent years, kava has rapidly become a popular beverage there. Kiribati people have incorporated kava into their daily activities, transforming a foreign drinking habit into one that is acceptable to them. The process of its introduction has moreover transformed their daily lives. In this paper, I discuss the reasons why kava-drinking has been readily accepted in Kiribati, comparing the situation with the cases of other Pacific Islands where people have cultivated and consumed it as a beverage. It is certain that the communal aspect of kava-drinking is significant in most places where it is imbibed, recently including Kiribati. For Kiribati people, kava-drinking has become familiar under the imagined Pacific socio-cultural commensurability that has been constructed in the course of their history, in contrast to the incommensurable West.
