Betel Nut Chewing Culture

Solomon Islands have been one of the most famous place where the betel nut culture is common. To most Islanders, betel nut have been part of their culture, used in ceremonies such as peace making to bride price, either it is exchanged or just to get people together and get the story flowing. Today it is one of the new age traditional snacks that is found in Honiara where the young people mostly youths have taken over the once old tradition of betel chewing. But do we really know what we are chewing, I mean scientifically. Here are some accounts of what experts have found in betel nut...Read on:


The information was prepared by the professional staff at Natural Standard, based on thorough systematic review of scientific evidence. The material was reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School with final editing approved by Natural Standard.

Evidence

Betel nut use refers to a combination of three ingredients: the nut of the betel palm (Areca catechu), part of the Piper betel vine and lime. Scientists have studied betel nut for the following health problems:

Stimulant

Betel nut may cause stimulant and euphoric effects. As a result, it is sometimes used recreationally. However, the known toxicities of chewing betel nut likely outweigh any possible benefits.

Stroke recovery

Betel nut has been studied for use after cerebrovascular accidents or stroke. Although some studies have suggested that betel nut extract may improve speech, bladder control and muscle strength, these studies have been small, with flaws in their designs. It is not clear if the possible benefits are worth the risks associated with betel nut use.

Schizophrenia

Early studies suggest that chewing betel nut may provide benefits for people diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, there are no well-designed studies evaluating this claim in humans, and it is not clear whether the possible benefits of chewing betel nut are worth the risks.

Anemia

One study suggests that chewing betel nut may reduce the risk of anemia in pregnant women, but it is not clear what effect betel nut truly has in this setting. It is not recommended that pregnant women chew betel nut because of a risk of cancer or birth defects.

Dental cavities

Betel nut was once used in toothpaste to prevent cavities. Laboratory studies suggest that betel nut may have antibacterial effects, which may reduce the development of cavities. However, other therapies to prevent tooth decay are safer, and the risks associated with betel nut likely do not outweigh the possible benefits.

Ulcerative colitis

Although betel nut has been suggested as a therapy to prevent or protect against ulcerative colitis, it is unlikely that the benefits are worth the risks.
Saliva stimulant
Betel nut has been shown to produce large amounts of saliva in people who chew betel nut. However, the toxic effects associated with its use probably do not outweigh the benefits.
Summary

Betel nut has been suggested as a treatment for many conditions.
However, there is not enough scientific evidence to support the use of betel nut for any medical condition. Although betel nut is chewed recreationally, chewing or ingesting betel nut may cause many serious adverse effects, including cancer, effects on the heart and death. Betel nut should be avoided in pregnant or breast-feeding women and in children. Consult a health care professional immediately if you have any side effects.
You can view this article in full at this URL:
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8513/31402/351498.html?d=dmtContent

S I Student On field Trip around Viti Levu

The Solomon Islands student studying at the Universtiy of the South Pacific have just returned from a field trip around the Western parts of Viti Levu. Those students are studying MS302 which looks at Integrated Coastal Zone Management and have been involved in such activities like Environmental Impact Assessment, coastal hazards and integrated management of the coasts. Below is the Class of 2005...





Photos by Derek Suimae.

2005 Graduation Ceremony, Laucala Campus

This is the 2005 USP Graduation Ceremony, with colors and styles...







Fiona delivering the Graduands speech





Photos from GE201 Class Share, By Thaman, R.

How a French Baroque Motet Is Like a Melanesian Folk Song

This is worth reading...

By Marc Perlman
An ethnomusicologist considers the Sawkins v. Hyperion case.

With the Sawkins v. Hyperion case, the classical music world has discovered a fact about copyright law that has long bothered folklorists and ethnomusicologists: under certain circumstances, the law allows individuals, in effect, to "privatize" works that are common property.

Anonymous works handed down via oral tradition — the sort that make up the musical heritage of many small-scale societies — have always been vulnerable to legal appropriation. For a recent (and relatively benign) example, consider the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek's "Pygmy Lullaby" (from the 1996 recording "Visible World"). The title notwithstanding, this is an arrangement of a traditional song from the Solomon Islands. Garbarek didn't have to pay royalties to the composer, since the composer is unknown. Still, he didn't convert all of the song's value to his own A Melanesian tribesman in the Solomon Islands. profit: he only collected half the royalties he would have received had he performed his own tune, since he was just the "arranger" of "Pygmy Lullaby." The other half — the anonymous Melanesian composer's half — went by law into a fund to support Norwegian folk music.

Garbarek did nothing illegal, and he is entitled to the fruits of his labors: the law allows anyone to modify an ownerless (or supposedly ownerless) work and claim ownership in the result. It's not an entirely outrageous idea: Think of it as a sort of Homestead Act, a way to stimulate individuals to do something creative with intellectual property that isn't generating as much income as it might. But many friends of traditional music feel there is something wrong with a legal system that directs all of the profits from "Pygmy Lullaby" to Garbarek (and Hardanger fiddle contests) and none to the Solomon Islands.

Michel-Richard de LalandeSome of the feelings of outrage directed at the Sawkins v. Hyperion verdict seem to reflect a similar unease. Lalande is hardly anonymous (though Alex Ross thinks that his obscurity made things easier for Dr. Sawkins's lawyers). But his motets, so long after his death, were no longer his. They were part of the public domain, along with that Solomon Islands lullaby, where they were legally available to anyone who could profit from them. So despite the many differences between these examples, when Alex Ross decries a legal judgment that (he feels) unfairly vests the credit for Lalande's creative accomplishments in Dr. Sawkins, I feel I recognize the flavor of his indignation. Though the Versailles court composer would probably not have embraced a nameless Melanesian as a colleague, the works of both are equally open to appropriation under our copyright laws. Indeed, in some ways Louis XIV's compositeur de la musique de la chambre is the more vulnerable of the two men.


Technically, this kind of appropriation is not the privatization of a public-domain work: it generates a new version of it, but does not lay claim to the original. (For instance, Garbarek could not extract royalties from mothers in the Solomon Islands crooning to their children.) Yet when the new, privately owned version is much more accessible than the original, the effect can be to build a fence around the work.

This is where the Third World melody is in a stronger position. The original song on which "Pygmy Lullaby" is based, sung by a woman named Afunakwa in Northern Malaita, can be heard on a CD recorded by the French ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp for UNESCO. But Lalande's grands motets are much less accessible, since for most of them not even a complete manuscript score survives. A performer wishing to consult a reasonably authoritative source would have to order several reels of microfilm from French libraries.

Thus, although, technically speaking, Dr. Sawkins doesn't own the Lalande motets which Hyperion recorded, in practice he owns the only paved road leading to them, and those who wish to drive there (so to speak) will have to pay his tolls. Intrepid backpackers who have the time (and musicological expertise) are free to scramble through the metaphorical brush to make their own performing editions, but few will try. Though if Mr. Ross knows a public-spirited musicologist specializing in the French Baroque, perhaps he can persuade her to make her own edition and post the PDF files on the Web for all to use. I think the domain name "freelalande.org" is still available.

© Marc Perlman. August 2005. All rights reserved.

S I Students participates in 2005 USP Graduation Ceremony

The 2005 USP Graduation Ceremony has been the highlight for the year not only for the region but for the 50 or so Solomon Islands students who graduated this year, some at the Laucala campus recently whilst the rest at the ceremony to be hosted in Honiara. Our students have also participated in the recent graduation choir singing with heavenly voices that would remain with the graduates for the rest of their lives. Below are those that took part in the Choir singing...


Members of the Tuvalu Students Association lead graduates to the graduation ceremony for the Laucala Campus in Suva recently.





Photos by KC

A tour to the USP Center in Solomons

Check this out, this is one place that most of us have spent for the last five or so years. The future of this place now lies with the decisions to be brokered between the government and the University whether this place will transformed into a 4th Campus. Take a tour to the center right here...

St.Joseph's Tenaru School

These photos reminds me of those good old days at St.Joseph's Tenaru. This was a school that embarks on training students in all aspects of life. Some of the favourite part of being at Tenaru is the work sessions, especially working at Block 11 cocoa plantation with the mozzies at your back the whole time. It was a great experience, and now they have their own library and a new shower block for the boys mostly with help of ex students.


The Famous Wall and Entrance to the Chapel


Library and Shower Block


Tenpac (Cultural Hall) and the Farm

Views of Honiara

These are some views of Honiara which depicts some of the transformation done to the city to bring back color and beauty that signifies peace and unity to the citizens.