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FEATURE in figures 1 and 5, makes it possible to reaffirm that the Ababua attribution should in no way be seen as inevitable when examining ivory spoons from the northern part of the DRC. Moreover, the examples are not limited to the pieces of the type seen in figures 1 and 5 or figure 20. The piece in figure 25 was considered to be Ababua only because certain types of spoons known as nekekere among the Makere are unfamiliar both to researchers and collectors (fig. 26). This last example naturally invites us to point out, if that is still necessary, that the critique of the “everything Ababua” designation would not have been possible without the study of objects that belong to a tradition of daily life that has disappeared NOTES 1. In the past, Ababua spoons were often thought to be Lega. 2. Fairly similar openwork is seen on small spoons, also called papa, which were used to eat soups and stews (figs. 7 and 11). 3. This particular blade openwork is also found on other types of weapons attributable to the Doke, the Ngombe, the Poto, the Yakoma, and the Ngbandi as well. One can even ask oneself if these various openwork blades might have played 108 FIG. 20: Spoon. Ngbandi(?). Ivory. L: 14 cm. Collected before 1897(?). MRAC, EO.0.0.27513 (registered in 1924). © MRAC. Photo: J.-M. Vandyck. FIG. 21: Spatula-spoon, mopambi. Ngbandi. Wood. L: 55 cm. Collected by E. Le Docte (c. 1912). MRAC, EO.0.0.7504-1 (registered in 1912). © MRAC. Photo: J.-M. Vandyck. and is, unfortunately, all too often seen as unimportant. FIGS. 22 and 23: Spoons, papa. Yakoma. Wood, upholstery nails (right-hand piece). L: 21 and 24 cm. Collected by A. Hutereau (early 1910s). MRAC, EO.0.0.13484 and EO.0.0.13480 (registered in 1913). © MRAC. Photo: J.-M. Vandyck. a role in the design of certain handle designs seen on paddles thought to be from the Mongala area (fig. 13). 4. This group is sometimes equated with Ngbandi (Maes and Boone, 1935, p. 355). By extension, the Yakoma, often called Bira, are located at the confluence of the Bomu and Uele Rivers and were mentioned by A. Hutereau (1922, pp. 128 and 130). BIBLIOGRAPHY Burrows, G., 1903, The Curse of Central Africa, Everett & Co, London. De Calonne-Beaufaict, A., 1909, Les Ababua: Observations sociologiques, Mouvement Sociologique International, vol. X, pp. 285–431. Doutté, E., reprint 1984, Magie et religion dans l’Afrique du Nord, Éditions J. Maisonneuve, Paris; First edition, Imprimerie A. Jourdan, 1908, Algiers. Hutereau, A., 1922, Histoire des peuplades de l’Uele et de l’Ubangi, Bibliothèque-Congo, Goemaere éditeur, Brussels. Maes, J., & O. Boone, 1935, Les peuplades du Congo belge, Publications du Bureau de documentation ethnographique, Brussels. Swartenbroeck, P., 1969, “La magie chez les Yansi du Congo,” in Bulletin de la Société royale belge d’anthropologie et de préhistoire, volume 80, pp. 187–226. Tournier, M., 2004 (reprint) Le miroir des idées, Éditions Gallimard (collection Folio), Paris; first edition, 1994.


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