The Kula Essay

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The Kula is a ceremonial exchange system conducted by multiple various communities in a closed circuit (Malinowski 1979, p.163). The Kula ring involves many participants from the same village and from the neighbouring ones (ibid.). On every island and in every village, a more or less limited number of men take part in the Kula – that is to say, receive the goods, hold them for a short period of time, and then pass them on (ibid.). Therefore every man in the Kula will receive one or several Mwali or Soulava periodically (ibid.). He then has to pass it on to one of his partners, from whom he receives the opposite commodity in exchange (ibid.). There are two particular items that are being exchanged in the Kula ring; travelling in the clockwise direction of the ring is the Soulava and on the anti-clockwise, the Mwali (Malinowski 1979, p.163). Mwali are bracelets of white shells which are obtained through breaking of the narrow end of a big, cone-shaped shell and then polishing up the remaining (Malinowski 1979, p.164). These bracelets are produced in the extreme north of the ring and the necklaces at the extreme south. Soulava are necklaces of red shell discs which are made out of small discs of red spondylus shells (ibid.). Both sacred Kula exchange items are useful to the people in the circle in many different ways. The Mwali and Soulava can be worn as ornaments to decorate themselves (Malinowski 1979, p.165), that however, is not the main purpose of both items. In fact, these elaborate jewelleries are usually only donned on by the villagers during the event of a big festive, feasts or gatherings whereby there are people from several tribes present (ibid.). They can never be worn on a daily basis or for minor occasions. These objects are not owned in order to be used; the privilege of decorating oneself with them is not the real aim of the possession (ibid.). The

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