Hausa bowl

Kuano wooden bowl –Hausa– (Tillaberi region, Niger)

Cousinage à Plaisenterie 1 is a very common social practice in West Africa that allows or even forces members of certain ethnic groups to mock others or insult each other without consequences. For example, there is a Wodabee riddle that runs through the streets of Niamey that says... What goes through the head of a Hausa woman when she goes to the market? The answer is as simple as it is fun: a hula pad lined with cowries, a wooden bowl full of fried kosais and an obsession: the color of the cloth she will buy with the money she earns.
This Nigerien version of the milkmaid's tale reminds us that those kuano bowls that the Wodabee villagers make fun of (and would undoubtedly trade for their pumpkins) are part of life in this part of the world.
One of the ones we have in Black Market was carved with a chisel and mallet in medium-density white wood at the end of the 20th century by Alí Jasumi so that his wife Delu could transport kosais to the Grand Marché 2.

Diameter: 37cm; Height: 25cm; Weight: 2.40 Kg

1 Cousinage à Plaisenterie could be translated as compadreo, a Nigerien tradition that should not be taken lightly because it has been part of Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2014.
2 Consider, therefore, that this sturdy container once contained the fritters and desires of a woman.