Kpelle
Encyclopedia
The Kpelle people are located primarily in an area of central Liberia
extending into Guinea
. They speak the Kpelle language
, which belongs to the Mande language family
.
Despite their yearly heavy rainfalls and rough land, The Kpelle survive mostly on their staple
crop of rice. Culturally the Kpelle take a functional approach to life; they are organized under several paramount chiefs who serve as mediator
s for the public, preserve order and settle disputes. Their local economy surrounds trade with local tribe
s.
, and are important also in southeastern Guinea
(where they are also known as Guerze). Most of them live in Bon County, Liberia. The word Kpelle is often used as an adjective to refer to someone as stupid in Liberia.
The terrain in the area includes swamps, hills and, in lowland areas, rivers. May through October brings their rainy season with an annual rainfall from 180 to 300 centimeters. The Kpelle territory sees the lowest temperatures dropping to 19 degrees C with the average temp around 36 degree C.
, vegetables, and fruits; cash crop
s include rice, peanuts
, sugarcane
, and kola nuts they also enjoy fufu
and soup, sometimes the soup is spicy but it depends on the way you want it.
as the main crop.
Traditionally, a Kpelle family consists of a man, his wives and his children. The household has been the usual farming unit, and all the family members participate in daily farming work. Young children learn how to farm and help the older family members with farm activities.
In their social structure, leadership was very crucial. Every Kpelle tribe used to have a chief who oversaw their own interests as well as the interests of the society. These chiefs were recognized by the national government. They used to act as mediators between the government and their own tribes. Each town also had its own chief. The chiefs act as liaisons for different groups in the society.
In intelligence research, the Kpelle people perform differently than Westerners on sorting tasks. While Westerners tend to take a taxonomic approach, the Kpelle take a more functional approach. For example, instead of grouping food and tools into separate categories, a Kpelle participant stated, "The knife goes with the orange because it cuts it." (Glick 1975)
An anthropologist, Joe Glick, while studying the Kpelle tribe asked adults to sort items into categories. Rather than producing taxonomic categories (e.g. "fruit" for apple), they sorted into functional groups (e.g. "eat" for apple). Such functional grouping is something only very young children in Western culture would usually do. Glick tried and failed, to teach them to categorize items. Eventually he decided they simply didn't have the mental ability to categorize in this way. Then, as a last resort, he asked them how a stupid person would do this task. At this point, without any hesitation, they sorted the items into taxonomic categories.
They could do it, but in their culture, it was of no practical value. It was stupid.http://www.memory-key.com/memory/individual/intelligence
during the sixteenth century before fleeing to Western Africa to what is now known as Liberia. Their fleeing was due to internal conflicts between the tribes from the crumbling Mali Empire
_. They migrated to Liberia yet maintained their traditional and cultural heritage.
In their daily economic life routine, the Kpelle used to trade with other tribes such as Mende
, Loma, Mano, and Bassa. They also used to trade with the Muslim Vai
and Mandingo
who live in small numbers in the country and reside nearby. They also trade with Lebanese
merchants, U.S. missionaries and Peace Corps
volunteers in Monrovia
. They were considered to be a people of civilization and progress compare to other tribes in the region. A four year college run by a group of Episcopalians is located in the middle of Kpelleland.
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...
extending into Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
. They speak the Kpelle language
Kpelle language
The Kpelle language is spoken by the Kpelle people and is part of the Mande family of languages. Guinean Kpelle [gkp] , spoken by half a million people, concentrated primarily, but not exclusively, in the forest regions of Guinea, whose capital, Nzérékoré, is the third largest city in Guinea and...
, which belongs to the Mande language family
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
.
Despite their yearly heavy rainfalls and rough land, The Kpelle survive mostly on their staple
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
crop of rice. Culturally the Kpelle take a functional approach to life; they are organized under several paramount chiefs who serve as mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
s for the public, preserve order and settle disputes. Their local economy surrounds trade with local tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s.
Location
The Kpelle are the largest ethnic group of the West African nation of LiberiaLiberia
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...
, and are important also in southeastern Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
(where they are also known as Guerze). Most of them live in Bon County, Liberia. The word Kpelle is often used as an adjective to refer to someone as stupid in Liberia.
The terrain in the area includes swamps, hills and, in lowland areas, rivers. May through October brings their rainy season with an annual rainfall from 180 to 300 centimeters. The Kpelle territory sees the lowest temperatures dropping to 19 degrees C with the average temp around 36 degree C.
Food
The Kpelle peoples eat rice as their primary staple. It is supplemented by cassavaCassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
, vegetables, and fruits; cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
s include rice, peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
, and kola nuts they also enjoy fufu
Fufu
Fufu, , is a staple snack of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached...
and soup, sometimes the soup is spicy but it depends on the way you want it.
Culture
Traditionally, the Kpelle have been farmers with riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
as the main crop.
Traditionally, a Kpelle family consists of a man, his wives and his children. The household has been the usual farming unit, and all the family members participate in daily farming work. Young children learn how to farm and help the older family members with farm activities.
In their social structure, leadership was very crucial. Every Kpelle tribe used to have a chief who oversaw their own interests as well as the interests of the society. These chiefs were recognized by the national government. They used to act as mediators between the government and their own tribes. Each town also had its own chief. The chiefs act as liaisons for different groups in the society.
In intelligence research, the Kpelle people perform differently than Westerners on sorting tasks. While Westerners tend to take a taxonomic approach, the Kpelle take a more functional approach. For example, instead of grouping food and tools into separate categories, a Kpelle participant stated, "The knife goes with the orange because it cuts it." (Glick 1975)
An anthropologist, Joe Glick, while studying the Kpelle tribe asked adults to sort items into categories. Rather than producing taxonomic categories (e.g. "fruit" for apple), they sorted into functional groups (e.g. "eat" for apple). Such functional grouping is something only very young children in Western culture would usually do. Glick tried and failed, to teach them to categorize items. Eventually he decided they simply didn't have the mental ability to categorize in this way. Then, as a last resort, he asked them how a stupid person would do this task. At this point, without any hesitation, they sorted the items into taxonomic categories.
They could do it, but in their culture, it was of no practical value. It was stupid.http://www.memory-key.com/memory/individual/intelligence
History
The Kpelle lived in what is now MaliMali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
during the sixteenth century before fleeing to Western Africa to what is now known as Liberia. Their fleeing was due to internal conflicts between the tribes from the crumbling Mali Empire
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
_. They migrated to Liberia yet maintained their traditional and cultural heritage.
In their daily economic life routine, the Kpelle used to trade with other tribes such as Mende
Mende people
The Mende people are one of the two largest and most dominant ethnic group in Sierra Leone, along with the Temne. The Mende make up 30% of Sierra Leone's total population or 1,932,015 members...
, Loma, Mano, and Bassa. They also used to trade with the Muslim Vai
Vai (ethnic group)
The Vai are a Manden ethnic group that live mostly in Liberia and small minority live in south-eastern Sierra Leone. The Vai are known for their indigenous syllabic writing system, developed in the 1820s by Duala Bukele and other tribal elders. Over the course of the 19th century, literacy in the...
and Mandingo
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
who live in small numbers in the country and reside nearby. They also trade with Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
merchants, U.S. missionaries and Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
volunteers in Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
. They were considered to be a people of civilization and progress compare to other tribes in the region. A four year college run by a group of Episcopalians is located in the middle of Kpelleland.
See also
- Culture of LiberiaCulture of LiberiaThe culture of Liberia reflects this nation's diverse ethnicities and long history. Liberia is located in West Africa on the Atlantic Coast.-Music:...