Signes graphiques minyanka - article ; n°1 ; vol.49, pg 71-102

Journal des africanistes - Année 1979 - Volume 49 - Numéro 1 - Pages 71-102
SUMMARY This article gives the first results of an investigation carried out on different categories of strips of wood with symbols as found in the framework of Minyanka (Republic of Mali) initiation societies. The author goes into the nature and function of some of these strips of wood with symbols noted at the level of different classes of initiation (of the Nya society) and which form, so to speak, the base of an initiatory instruction imparted to each of them. The principle of the disposition of the symbols and their obvious place in the theory of numbers and in a classification system where all beings and things fall into place, leads the author to ask fundamental questions on the statute of a symbolic writing. The problem of the relationship between the way of thinking and the styles of writing lying outside occidental or Islamic writing is faced. A simple outline of the Minyanka systems of writing, this study prepares the way for subsequent research.
32 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.