Actualites

Kaninikula, mathématiques aux Îles Trobriand

Kaninikula, mathématiques aux Iles Trobriand (Kaninikula, mathematics at the Trobriand islands)

29 minutes, France, 2013

French Version

Directed by Eric Vandndrische

Produced by CNRS

The film draws a parallel between the ‘string games’ called Kaninikula, still being played on the Trobriand Islands and a reflection about the mathematical rationality revealed by the rules of these games. Research carried out by an ethno-mathematician suggests hypotheses about the way Trobriand inhabitants perceive this activity and about the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the creation of different figures drawn mainly by the fingers and the string.