Kpelle people

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The Kpelle are the largest ethnic group of the West African nation of Liberia, and are important also in southeastern Guinea (where they are also known as Guerze). They speak the Kpelle language.

For the 2006 PBS program African American Lives, African American television personality Oprah Winfrey had her DNA tested. This genetic genealogy test determined that her maternal line probably originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia.

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).

Historically the Kpelle have historically been farmers. Rice was the main crop they raised.^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

Stone, Ruth M. (1982). Let the Inside Be Sweet: The Interpretation of Music Event Among the Kpelle of Liberia. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Glick (1975) reported in Resnick, L. (1976). The Nature of Intelligence. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.