ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to give theoretical status to these humorous practices, drawing inspiration from existing anthropological work on the Joking Society. Our purpose is to recognize these practices as being an original component of a peculiar African way of managing business relations that differs from the Western one. We believe that this recognition may help expatriates to better adapt to the specificities of African societies. To do this, we introduce the concepts of Kouman and Trohown Yètrankpa which will be illustrated through a case study. We propose to explain how the oratorical talents mobilized in the context of the talks, or “Kouman” , help the advancement of the negotiation process and contribute positively to conflict management in business situations and in other social situations. Humorous practices appear in this perspective as a valuable component in building a harmonious society that Ivorians call “Trohown Yètrankpa” . This research is based on the process analysis of four negotiation cases in the Ivorian professional environment. Its purpose is to describe how codified humorous practices that were long ago described by anthropologists are still used today to prevent or to manage a lot of business conflicts in Ivory Coast.
