Grebo (ethnic group)
Encyclopedia
The name Grebo is used to refer to an ethnic group
or subgroup within the larger Kru group of West Africa
, to certain of its constituent elements, or to the Grebo language
. Within Liberia
members of this group are found primarily in Maryland County
and Grand Kru County
in the southeastern portion of the country, but also in River Gee County
and Sinoe County
. The Côte d'Ivoire
Grebo population Krumen is found the southwestern corner of that country.
A recent estimate of their numbers in Liberia is approximately 387,000. There are an estimated 48,300 Grebo in Côte d'Ivoire, not counting refugees. Precise numbers are lacking, since many have been displaced by the recent civil war.
was obviously by sea, the first group in the area with which they came into contact and established prolonged relations were the Seaside Grebo, or Glebo; thus they came to be known simply as the Grebo. To this day, in the absence of other qualification, the term Grebo will be taken, as often as not, to refer simply to this group in particular.
Considerable ambiguity and imprecision continue to exist with respect to the use of the term Grebo; it is not always clear precisely which group it is intended to denote. Some of this ambiguity has evolved historically, as the name was generalized from that of the first group contacted by Americo-Liberian colonists in the area which became Maryland County
. Lack of specificity and further imprecision were created as its use was extended to other, lesser-known groups in inland areas. Furthermore, this confusion has been perpetuated, intentionally (for whatever purpose) or unintentionally, by its use as a cover-label for groups in the area known to be different, but which are conveniently considered as the same.
, without reference to a taxonomy of the languages employed by its members. Indeed, although there may be archaeological
evidence and oral histories
, the language classification is often the least confusing frame of reference.
In the case of Grebo, unfortunately, this framework is much more difficult to establish than one might wish. That is because the Grebo ethnic group comprises a community of speakers of speech varieties covering an extensive language continuum punctuated by a collection of cultural centers of gravity, usually town clusters. While the affinity of these varieties is apparent, the internal structure of a classification is often difficult to delineate with any degree of precision.
Thus, Glebo has long had sociopolitical ascendancy over neighboring groups, due to their access to Western technology and their alliances with the colonists and Americo-Liberians.
and prehistoric
past, there has been frequent conflict between the various warlike and highly ethnocentric groups covered by the general label Grebo. Many antipathetic attitudes have persisted into the present.
Some inland groups despise the Seaside Grebo, considering them to have been foolish to "sell" their land to the Americo-Liberians, allowing their language to become replete with English borrowings, and generally abandoning traditional ways to follow the fashions of Liberian or European Americans.
For their own part, the Seaside group contemptuously refers to the up-country groups as "Bush" Grebo, pagan and barbarous.
Yet there also exists a certain pan-Grebo unification sentiment, which tends to fuel a political movement that would have in its more extreme form the goal of uniting of virtually all speakers of the sociolinguistic language Grebo in Maryland County
, River Gee County
, and Grand Kru County
. In its recent form, much of it was in response to the emergence of "political tribes" (factions) during the recent civil wars (First Liberian Civil War and Second Liberian Civil War
), defining themselves in contradistinction to the Americo-Liberian power base. In a sense, this was a continuation of the Grebo wars of the 19th century.
As this section was intended to discuss Grebo-Grebo relations, it does not begin to address the full range of antipathies and grievances between Americo-Liberians and indigenous Liberians, which discussion would be a dissertation in itself.
for males and sande
for females) and their associated societies continue to exist, despite reports to the contrary. Historically the poro(s) have articulated themselves with Masonic lodges of a Euro-American style.
See also
Kings or chiefs often wore a heavy brass ankle ring, which was emplaced by a smith, and worn to the death. These anklets were considered animate, and regularly fed human blood.
by scrying
, and may use the results of such divination to determine the putative perpetrator of a crime.
is tried by ordeal
for the determination of guilt by being subjected to the forced imbibition of a decoction of the bark of the sasswood (sassywood) tree/vine (Erythrophleum suaveolens or guineense). If the person dies, they are adjudged guilty. More often than not they do die, as sasswood is quite poisonous. According to a Maryland County newspaper, a woman was killed rather recently by this ordeal.
descent group (clan
) must find a mate from another clan, under pain of taboo
violation. Virilocal residence is the norm.
/ bidialectalism
is normal in such a context, as the needs of exogamy and commercial interaction require it.
Diglossia
(extended or not), often with Liberian (Pidgin English) provides an additional dimension to the multilingual complexity described above
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
or subgroup within the larger Kru group of West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, to certain of its constituent elements, or to the Grebo language
Grebo language
Grebo is dialect cluster of the Kru languages, spoken by the Grebo people of Liberia and the Krumen of Ivory Coast.-Definition:Since the first group contacted by European explorers and Americo-Liberian colonists reaching the area of Cape Palmas were the Seaside Grebo, or Glebo, their speech came to...
. Within Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
members of this group are found primarily in Maryland County
Maryland County
Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
and Grand Kru County
Grand Kru County
Grand Kru is a county in the southeastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eighteen districts. Created in 1984, Barclayville serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
in the southeastern portion of the country, but also in River Gee County
River Gee County
River Gee is a county in the southern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Fish Town serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
and Sinoe County
Sinoe County
Sinoe is one of Liberia's 15 counties and it has 17 districts. Greenville is the county's capital.As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 104,932, making it one of the least populous counties in Liberia....
. The Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
Grebo population Krumen is found the southwestern corner of that country.
A recent estimate of their numbers in Liberia is approximately 387,000. There are an estimated 48,300 Grebo in Côte d'Ivoire, not counting refugees. Precise numbers are lacking, since many have been displaced by the recent civil war.
Who are the Grebo?
Because the only means for early European explorers and Americo-Liberian colonists to reach the area of Cape PalmasCape Palmas
Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, West Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. Immediately to the west of the...
was obviously by sea, the first group in the area with which they came into contact and established prolonged relations were the Seaside Grebo, or Glebo; thus they came to be known simply as the Grebo. To this day, in the absence of other qualification, the term Grebo will be taken, as often as not, to refer simply to this group in particular.
Considerable ambiguity and imprecision continue to exist with respect to the use of the term Grebo; it is not always clear precisely which group it is intended to denote. Some of this ambiguity has evolved historically, as the name was generalized from that of the first group contacted by Americo-Liberian colonists in the area which became Maryland County
Maryland County
Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
. Lack of specificity and further imprecision were created as its use was extended to other, lesser-known groups in inland areas. Furthermore, this confusion has been perpetuated, intentionally (for whatever purpose) or unintentionally, by its use as a cover-label for groups in the area known to be different, but which are conveniently considered as the same.
Language
It is difficult to discuss the numerous subgroups of a large and variegated ethnic group, such as the Kru, recently emerged from prehistoryPrehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
, without reference to a taxonomy of the languages employed by its members. Indeed, although there may be archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
evidence and oral histories
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
, the language classification is often the least confusing frame of reference.
In the case of Grebo, unfortunately, this framework is much more difficult to establish than one might wish. That is because the Grebo ethnic group comprises a community of speakers of speech varieties covering an extensive language continuum punctuated by a collection of cultural centers of gravity, usually town clusters. While the affinity of these varieties is apparent, the internal structure of a classification is often difficult to delineate with any degree of precision.
History of European (American) contact
Speakers of Seaside Grebo (Glebo) were the first to have extensive contact with Maryland in Africa colonization, which began in 1827.Thus, Glebo has long had sociopolitical ascendancy over neighboring groups, due to their access to Western technology and their alliances with the colonists and Americo-Liberians.
Attitudes
In both the historicHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
past, there has been frequent conflict between the various warlike and highly ethnocentric groups covered by the general label Grebo. Many antipathetic attitudes have persisted into the present.
Some inland groups despise the Seaside Grebo, considering them to have been foolish to "sell" their land to the Americo-Liberians, allowing their language to become replete with English borrowings, and generally abandoning traditional ways to follow the fashions of Liberian or European Americans.
For their own part, the Seaside group contemptuously refers to the up-country groups as "Bush" Grebo, pagan and barbarous.
Yet there also exists a certain pan-Grebo unification sentiment, which tends to fuel a political movement that would have in its more extreme form the goal of uniting of virtually all speakers of the sociolinguistic language Grebo in Maryland County
Maryland County
Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
, River Gee County
River Gee County
River Gee is a county in the southern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Fish Town serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
, and Grand Kru County
Grand Kru County
Grand Kru is a county in the southeastern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eighteen districts. Created in 1984, Barclayville serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
. In its recent form, much of it was in response to the emergence of "political tribes" (factions) during the recent civil wars (First Liberian Civil War and Second Liberian Civil War
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
), defining themselves in contradistinction to the Americo-Liberian power base. In a sense, this was a continuation of the Grebo wars of the 19th century.
As this section was intended to discuss Grebo-Grebo relations, it does not begin to address the full range of antipathies and grievances between Americo-Liberians and indigenous Liberians, which discussion would be a dissertation in itself.
Bush societies
Bush schools (poroPoro
The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a secret society of Sierra Leone and Liberia.-Structure:Only males are admitted to its ranks, but two other affiliated and secret associations exist, the Yassi and the Bundu, the first of which is nominally reserved for females, but members of the Poro are admitted...
for males and sande
Sande society
Sande, also known as zadεgi, bundu, bundo and bondo, is a women's association found in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea that initiates girls into adulthood, confers fertility, instills notions of morality and proper sexual comportment, and maintains an interest in the well-being of its members...
for females) and their associated societies continue to exist, despite reports to the contrary. Historically the poro(s) have articulated themselves with Masonic lodges of a Euro-American style.
Ritual Cannibalism
The tribes of the Kru coast have long been known for practicing ritual murder and cannibalism. See the articles on cannibalism and Human leopards.See also
- Liberian Conflict
- Ritual Killings: From Cultural Phenomenon To Political Instrument
- "Iron Lady" defied 2006-03-01
- "Heart men".
Tooth chipping
Before the Euro-American influence became great, members of the group would often chip their teeth to sharp points to create a ferocious visage, as well as for aesthetic reasons.Ritual artifacts
The Grebo are well-known for their carved wooden masks, which were worn in ceremonies, often mediating or propitiating the spirits. The use of white clay denotes a ku or spirit, and dancers wearing these masks were daubed with it.Kings or chiefs often wore a heavy brass ankle ring, which was emplaced by a smith, and worn to the death. These anklets were considered animate, and regularly fed human blood.
Divination
Local adepts practice divinationDivination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
by scrying
Scrying
Scrying is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The most common media used are reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals,...
, and may use the results of such divination to determine the putative perpetrator of a crime.
Trial by ordeal
A person (usually a woman) accused of witchcraftWitchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
is tried by ordeal
Trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience...
for the determination of guilt by being subjected to the forced imbibition of a decoction of the bark of the sasswood (sassywood) tree/vine (Erythrophleum suaveolens or guineense). If the person dies, they are adjudged guilty. More often than not they do die, as sasswood is quite poisonous. According to a Maryland County newspaper, a woman was killed rather recently by this ordeal.
Exogamy
Members of a patrilinealPatrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
descent group (clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
) must find a mate from another clan, under pain of taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
violation. Virilocal residence is the norm.
Multilingualism
A degree of bilingualismMultilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
/ bidialectalism
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
is normal in such a context, as the needs of exogamy and commercial interaction require it.
Diglossia
Diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety , a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal...
(extended or not), often with Liberian (Pidgin English) provides an additional dimension to the multilingual complexity described above