The concept of
la chance
accounts for everyday knowledge production in uncertain contexts in Bamako, Mali, where university graduates constitute an educational elite strongest affected by unemployment. Graduates know that
decides whether they succeed or fail. Susann Ludwig shows that this concept embodies common sense as much as it offers the possibility of the extraordinary. Graduates play "the game of
", in which success is defined by a continuation of play rather than an end goal. Providing an explorative experience to the reader, this study accounts for the elusiveness of
in the Bamako context and beyond.