An Understanding of Socially-Constructed Knowledge in the Context of Traditional Game-Playing as Theorems-in-Action

Abstract

In this article the authors describe data from an ethnographical study about the playing of Uril, a mancala-type game played in the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde.  They interpret observed game strategies as theorems-in-actions, constructed socially and throughout a long period of time, influenced by socially shared norms and beliefs, as well as by knowledge construction at the individual level.  The authors also use knowledge obtained from a computer-generated database to explore a sequence of game moves observed ethnographically, verifying its robustness and the necessary conditions that make it a winning strategy.  The authors use evidence from ethnographical data to argue that those necessary conditions are tacitly assumed by the players observed.