Alexander Johan de Voogt

From Wikimanqala

Alexander de Voogt, on the right, playing oware against September Christian

Alexander Johan de Voogt (often shortened to Alex J. de Voogt) is the most renowned mancala researcher besides Philip Townsend.

De Voogt was born on May 3, 1970, in te Baarn, Netherlands. He began to study African languages at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in 1988, then pursued Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Oceania, Hawaii (USA), and eventually graduated in 1995 with an Ph.D. in Psychology writing his dissertation about bao mastership at Leiden University, Netherlands.

De Voogt learnt bao during a Swahili course and fieldwork study on Zanzibar, Tanzania, in 1990, which remained his main research interest ever since. Other mancala games he studied are katro (Madagascar), owela (Namibia), warri (Barbados), hawalis (Oman), ohvalhu (Maldives), olinda (Sri Lanka) and recently a-i-ú (Brazil; personal communication with R. Gering 2006).

De Voogt is a member of the International Society for Board Game Studies and the editor of its journal Board Game Studies, the only journal for the scientific study of the history and development of board games around the world. He was the initiator of the Colloquium Board Games in Academia, now Board Game Studies Colloquium, and organized the first two in 1995 and 1997 at Leiden University.

De Voogt is also known as an excellent bao player and has collected numerous mancala boards.

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Publications by de Voogt on mancala games

Donkers, H. H. L. M., Voogt, A. J. de & Uiterwijk, J. W. H. M.: (2000) 'Human versus Machine Problem-Solving: Winning Openings in Dakon', Board Games Studies; 3: 79-88.

Donkers, H. H. L. M., Uiterwijk, J. W. H. M. & Voogt, A. J. de.: (2001) 'Mancala Games: Topics in Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence', in: Retschitzki, J. & Haddad-Zubel, R. (Eds.). Step by Step. Proceedings of the Colloquium Board Games in Academia IV, Fribourg: Edition Universitaire; 133-146.

Gobet, F., Retschitzki, J. & Voogt, A. J. de. (Ed.): (2004) Moves in Mind: The Psychology of Board Games, Hove: Psychology Press.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1995) Limits of the Mind: Towards a Characterisation of Bao Mastership, Leide: CNWS Publications.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1995) 'New Approaches to Board Games Research: Asian Origins and Future Perpectives', IIAS Working Papers, series 3, Leiden.

Voogt, A. J. de: (1996) 'Changing Objects: Aesthetic Qualities of Mancala Boards', Museum Anthropology; 20 (3): 150-153.

Voogt, A. J. de: (1996) 'Indigenous Problem-solving and Western Methodology: The Case of Bao', IK Monitor; 4 (3).

Voogt, A. J. de: (1997) Mancala Board Games, London: British Museum Press.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1998) 'Seeded Players: East African Game of Bao', Natural History, New York, February.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1998) 'Going Full Circle', The Geographical, London (12).

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1999) 'Distribution of Mancala Board Games: A methodological Inquiry', Board Games Studies; 2: 104-114.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (1999) 'Foreword', in: Russ, L. The Complete Mancala Games Book, New York: Marlowe and Company, ix-xi.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2000) 'Mancala Boards (Olinda Keliya) in the National Museums of Colombo', Board Game Studies; 3: 90-99.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2000) 'Strategy in Bao: An Introduction', Abstract Games Magazine; Issue 4 (Winter): 21-22.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2001) 'Strategy in Bao: Notation and the House', Abstract Games Magazine; Issue 5 (Spring): 22-23.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2001) 'Strategy in Bao: The Beauty is Complexity', Abstract Games Magazine; Issue 7 (Autumn): 24-25.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2001) 'Mancala: Games That Count', Expedition; 43 (1): 38-46.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2002) 'Reproducing Board Game Positions: Western Chess and African Bao', Swiss Journal of Psychology; 61 (4): 221-233.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2002) Mancala Exhibition in the Tropenmuseum [CD-ROM Publication], Amsterdam: KIT Tropenmuseum.

Voogt, A. J. de.: (2003) 'Muyaka's Poetry in the History of Bao', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies; 66: 61-65.

Voogt, A. J. de: (2003) 'Hawalis in Oman: A first Account of Expertise and Dispersal of four-row Mancala in the Middle East', Board Game Studies; 6: 95-98.