Kitava, Kula Paradise

All of a sudden we find ourselves going after Kula, the trade practice that Malinowski is most famous for recording. We're on a barge with seven Kula negotiators and a bunch of construction workers from Alotau. The lead spokesman for the chief is very well versed on Malinowski and gives a comparison between, Mal and Harry Powell, a later anthropologist who lived in the Trobs and planted his own yam garden.

Linus, our guide and now very good friend, is inspired by the whole scene and writes our names and places of origin: "We are on a mission for Kula" he writes, places the paper in a bottle and chucks it overboard with the hope that it will land on Okaiboma beach, his home village. Four hours later, we arrive on the small island of Kitava(Just Northeast of Kiriwina). Z and I decide to take a swim and in our refreshed state, Z leaves his purse full of close to $1,300 and his passport on the beach. 1/2 hour later he goes back in search of it and after scanning the beach and the barge he thinks it's all over. But, and I'm not sure this would happen anywhere else but the Trobriands, the purse is safe with a family on the beach and completely untouched.

On that note, Kitava is unlike any place either of us have ever been. Aside form kerosene for lamps, and the demand for betel nut, there is little or no need for money. It's a completely barter based island unlike Kiriwina, which, although still along those lines, has a number of canteens with western goods for sale.

Well, Mwalis(Kula arm shells) were on display everywhere for the traders who will come from Kiriwina with the prospect of trading their necklaces (Bagis) with their Kula partners. The chief had sent his men to scout the pickings and to find out why certain villages were refusing to display the more valuable armshells. Was it because he hadn't mourned properly for a recently deceased relative on Kitava? Too easy. The chief's Kula partner's are waiting for him to lay down a bagi to show he is serious about negotiation, a bagi(don't tell anyone) he has yet to recieve from the east.

In all of our talks with Kitavans on Kula, we came to realize that the main purpose of engaging in it is to gain fame and renoun throughout the islands, to become a major Kula player or champion.We met one such man and stayed in his village. He told us in an interview that Kula is all about generosity and establishing liaisons and partners across the islands. But as we talked with others, it seemed to boil down to establishing a name for yourself. Linus sees Kula pretty much as a sport and I thus likened it to Baseball in the US. The fervor over the Red Sox last season seemed to be in line with the obsession that most Trobrianders have with these shell necklaces, an obsession that would drive someone to poison their neighbor to get one. I know enough Bostonians who might consider poisoning a Yankees fan if it meant the success of the Sox!

To us All the shell valuables look quite similar but Linus points out the importance of the different ages and craftsmanship of certain ones. The most valuable ones carry names which date back to Malinowski's time. In fact, we were shown a bagi that Malinowski recorded in Argonauts and Shirley Campbell had told Kelly about seeing some 70 years later during her own fieldwork. If you are a big Kula player, certain Mwalis will take on your name and thus insure your fame will last for decades throughout the Kula trading ring.

One of our Dimdim(Kiriwinian for "whitey") compatriots from the barge cared enough to buy a Mwali off a trader for 50K($17) and thus took it out of the trading loop forever.