Les mankala africains

A. Popova—African Mankala. 'Mankala' designates a class of mathematical game which is most popular in Africa, with its two main subtypes, viz. the one-cycle wari, found chiefly in the north, and the two-cycle solo of the Bantu. Despite a number of differences in operating rules between these two types, they retain a deep conceptual unity which allows to consider them, anthropologically speaking, as mere variants of a single game. The 'general rule' set forth here aims at providing a global vision of these games, illustrated by a detailed description of four wari, one solo and one mixed game. Finally a correspondence is established between mankala and joking-relation-ship, the latter being designated by the Swahili word utani, derived from a root with the double meaning 'insuit, abuse' and 'contract an alliance', which expresses well enough the ambiguous character of the game both per se and as an institution.Popova Assia. Les mankala africains. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 16, n°63-64, 1976. pp. 433-458