The Kpelle people (also known as the Guerze) are located primarily in an area of central Liberia extending into Guinea. They speak the Kpelle language,[1] 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 mediators for the public, preserve order and settle disputes. Their local economy surrounds trade with local tribes.
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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). 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.[1]
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.[1]
The Kpelle peoples eat rice as their primary staple. It is supplemented by cassava, vegetables, and fruits; cash crops 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.[2]
Traditionally, the Kpelle have been farmers with rice as the main crop.[3]
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."[1]
The Kpelle lived in what is now Mali 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.[1]