Perpetual lament: Kava-drinking, christianity and sensations of historical decline in Fiji

Themes of historical decline are common cross-culturally, but in certain contexts they may transcend nostalgia and become the motivation for political action. This article examines the ways in which themes of historical decline are made intelligible and palpable for indigenous Fijians in the Tavuki Bay area of Kadavu Island. After addressing the roles of colonial subjugation and Christianization in generating people's senses of powerful pasts and weakened presents, I describe one particular ritual site in rural Fiji, that of evening kava-drinking sessions, arguing that such sessions are key sites in which people come to understand and feel that Fijian society has lost power. By drinking kava in communal sessions and describing excessive kava-drinking as a sign of decline, people come to know the theme of decline intellectually and to feel it in their bodies. This theme, having come to seem a natural fact, can then help to inspire political action.