561:: "One of these students, Charles Blooah, was born in Africa, a member of the aboriginal and cannibalistic Nimiah tribe of Liberia. At the age of 14 he fled from his tribe in order to escape becoming its king. By 1936 his advancement in education in this country, beginning as an illiterate savage, had reached such a standing that the University of Nebraska awarded him a fellowship In the department of social science." In "The Negros of Nebraska – The Negro goes to school". URL accessed 26 April 2006
883:
146:"clan" (code 180810). Jabo territory extends along the coast of southeastern Liberia from Garraway in the northwest proceeding in a southeasterly direction to the Deeah River, and from there inland almost as far as Bewehn. The northern half of the district is inhabited by the Trembo ethnic group and which has its center at the district capital in Bewehn.
520:), which cut across all social strata, and considering also a sensational legal proceeding in Maryland county in 1977, there is no reason to hope that the practice or its associated belief system has abated or been extirpated. This is not intended to convey the impression that such practices are limited to this area of
499:
at the clan level, but in practice, many also marry outside their tribe. The extent of this practice is obviously limited by the difficult transportation situation. Nonetheless, the exogamy factor has a certain effect of heightening intergroup awareness and communication. It remains to be seen how
451:
Although the Jabo area is adjacent to the
Seaside Grebo area to the east-southeast, the two are separated by the Deeah (Die or Decoris) River, which is often treacherous and difficult to cross, especially during the rainy season or when a strong tide is running in the estuary. Because of the lack of
515:
Against the backdrop of widespread violence during the
Liberian civil war, reports of ritual murder and cannibalism seem scarcely to rise to the level of newsworthiness. Yet the inhabitants of the Cape Palmas region have been repeatedly characterized since at least 1668 as having this practice
224:
Nimiah consists of two main centers: one village cluster on the coastal lagoon, and another, larger cluster located approximately 10 km inland. The town on the lagoon (Lower Nimiah, Nimiah Beach) consists of several centers, of which the principal one is now called
159:
At the level below the administrative clan, the Jabo are organized into administrative townships (each with a "town chief"), usually consisting of multiple clusters of villages or hamlets. Hasselbring & Johnson list seven Jabo town complexes:
403:
Blooah sometimes also claimed to be a member of the "Nimiah tribe;" sometimes Nimiah was called a township. As mentioned above, it corresponds to a
Liberian administrative clan. The pronunciation in Jabo which was recorded was .
607:
WPA, p. 2: "So as a result the first family groups formed themselves into
Gentile group, the Gentile groups into tribes, the tribes into a confederacy, and the confederacy into a nation which we call ---The
84:, a term that in Liberia has a meaning imprecise at best. Confusion may arise due to the circumstance that in Liberia the English word "tribe" is also sometimes applied to the second-order administrative "
627:
737:
As of 25 February 2006 there were no motorable long- or medium- distance roads in either Grand Kru or
Maryland County. Barclayville, the county seat of Grand Kru County, is inaccessible.
692:
WPA, p. 1: "My tribe in
Liberia was known as the Djabo Confederacies. At first are family or tribe opens with the history of one family. The father of the family was known as the Dja"
213:
The Jabo population center most reported in the literature is the town complex of Half
Garraway (variants: Half Garroway, Half Gadowe, Half Grawe, New Garraway), known in Jabo as
232:
Upper Nimiah (Nemiah, Nemia, Nimia) is located at
Latitude 4°32'40" N (4.5444), Longitude 7°53'37 W (−7.8936), altitude 101 m (334 feet); population 3688. It is now called
738:
916:
628:
http://humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/mapcentre/reference/country_pdf/LIB046_County_district_and_clan_boundaries_2002_0410%2d03_code_list_short_form_0510%2d03.pdf
557:
WPA, :"Ancestry --Negro- group- Nimi'ab tribe." While at the
University of Nebraska, he apparently gave people to understand that his tribe was called
416:
information is available, the most reliable framework for placing them with respect to related peoples is the classification of their language.
909:
435:
A certain amount of confusion is created by the fact that many sources treat "Jabo" as being either identical with, or as a subgroup of
350:, as might be assumed. It is, rather, defined as the name of "a group of five tribes" or "a language". It properly designates a certain
1032:
902:
587:
774:. London, Pub. for the International Institute of African Languages & Cultures by Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1936.
516:
culturally entrenched among themselves. Considering the practice's links to
Liberian internal politics and secret societies (
190:
Since the recent civil war in Liberia, many towns have been emptied, renamed, reclaimed, or swollen by displaced populations.
1037:
889:
92:
terms. "Tribe" is also occasionally used for a third-order administrative "clan" when the latter comprises multiple ethnic
1042:
853:
472:
Proper"), rather than with the Seaside Grebo. They are also located in the same newly created (1984) county as the Klao (
229:, at latitude 4°28'48" N (4.48), longitude 7°52'39" W (−7.8775), altitude 83 m (275 ft); population 1724.
856:
508:
In researching the literature pertaining to the Jabo, one may occasionally come upon references to them practising
66:
English speakers also use the name of the group for a single member of that group, or for their speech variety.
925:
135:
120:
941:
799:
488:
A cultural trait present among the Jabo, and apparently widespread across the Kru group is the practice of
936:
639:
Garroway is not to be confused with the similarly named Seaside Grebo towns east of Harper, Cape Palmas.
255:
343:. The Jabo form of the name is . This name is also used for them by at least some Glebo speakers as .
808:
A sociolinguistic survey of the Grebo language area of Liberia. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-074
1027:
372:
was originally incorrectly generalized to apply to the larger group (the Jabo confederation) because
251:
142:. This southern portion of the district is defined in terms of Liberian administrative units as the
85:
836:
259:
509:
794:
562:
473:
139:
124:
477:
468:. This tends to emphasize mutual affinity and intercommunication with the Klao (Krao or "
465:
440:
128:
517:
351:
300:
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1021:
976:
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420:
271:
245:
100:
89:
811:
1001:
981:
971:
961:
865:
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 – 1940
826:
816:
512:
and Charles Blooah, Sapir's Jabo informant, apparently made no secret of the fact.
489:
457:
436:
424:
373:
218:
75:
37:
868:
583:
412:
Dealing with a people with little recorded history and for which little detailed
172:
Nemiah (includes: Glopluken, Jlatiken, Mensiengloh, Nyanoken, Penoken, Yaytueken)
996:
991:
956:
787:
Ingemann, Frances, and John Duitsman. "A Survey of Grebo Dialects in Liberia,"
413:
275:
78:
attitudes, and are frequently referred to both by themselves and by others as a
45:
1006:
986:
951:
469:
453:
452:
usable roads connecting them, the Jabo tend to go northwest to market, into a
274:
literature. The Jabo language is complex and has been studied by well-known
649:
626:
Liberian administrative "clan" of Garaway/Nemia (area 158.03 km²); see
894:
354:
descent group (in this case a "sub-tribe"), within the larger group ("Jabo
423:
family of Niger–Congo languages. For further discussion, see the article
24:
74:
Like many of their neighbors in the area, the Jabo have very pronounced
539:
The name has the default tone of the language, tone "2", here unmarked.
492:
263:
41:
598:
WPA, p. 1: "My tribe in Liberia was known as the Djabo Confederacies."
88:," which are not necessarily congruent with "tribes" defined in local
521:
359:
317:
267:
108:
496:
461:
355:
104:
93:
80:
60:
564:. (Blooah died in Colorado, USA, in 1978, a lifelong Methodist.)
500:
this will be affected by the refugee situation and urbanization.
888:
Topographic reference map of Grand Kru County as of 2003-09-18:
772:
Jabo Proverbs from Liberia: Maxims in the Life of a Native Tribe
96:, as well as for a variety of other more or less ad hoc groups.
898:
582:
For a discussion of the use of the term "tribe" in Liberia see
710:
Charles Blooah, b. abt. 1904, d. 30 January 1978, in Colorado.
782:
379:
Among the subdivisions of the Gweabo sub-tribe mentioned in
181:
Poloya (includes: Poloylowen, Pungbaloken, Tuwaken, Weteken)
134:
Their area coincides more or less with the southern half of
460:) and Garraway, north to Bewehn, or sometimes northeast to
759:
Herzog, George. "Drum Signaling in a West African Tribe,"
781:. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International, 2005. Online version:
480:, from which they are once again politically separated.
882:, U.S. Navy map from 1853 in the Library of Congress,:
339:
The Jabo are also referred to in the literature as the
312:"Ja + tongue"(Glebo form . The significative element
217:, which is situated between Garraway and the Seaside
779:
Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition
270:
assembled by Herzog and Blooah is often cited in the
48:. They have also sometimes referred to themselves as
767:, pp. 312–23. Ed. Dell Hymes. New York, 1964.
464:, rarely to the commercial and government center in
119:
The area inhabited by the Jabo is now mostly in the
829:, With Charles G. Blooah. "Some Gweabo Proverbs,"
654:
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/LI/16/Yedweke.html
863:, 1936–1940. Online version: Library of Congress
861:Life History Manuscripts from the Folklore Project
376:Jabo informant was a member of that sub-tribe.
867:, Item 27 of 312 (Nebraska), "Charles Blooah"
819:. "Notes on the Gweabo Language of Liberia,"
910:
316:is explained as being the proper name of the
294:being an animate plural suffix (compare with
8:
504:Allegations of ritual murder and cannibalism
439:. For a discussion of this see the article
346:The term is not a mere variant of the word
917:
903:
895:
127:, with a few outliers across the river in
358:"). It may be conjectured to have as an
290:in a narrow sense means "Ja people", the
202:(Upper) Nimiah is now called Wilsonville.
848:Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague
770:Herzog, George, and Charles G. Blooah.
40:located in the southeastern part of the
532:
456:-oriented area at the county seat of (
196:Garraway is now called Garraway Beach.
23:
330:"Glebo people of Fishtown (Waa) clan"
304:). A single member of the group is a
199:Half Garraway is now called Yedweke.
7:
806:Hasselbring, Sue and Eric Johnson.
262:language. The collection of their
254:, which mirrors to some degree the
99:The Jabo describe themselves as a "
777:Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., editor.
327:"Glebo man of Fishtown (Waa) clan"
14:
308:"Ja + person" and the language *
419:Jabo clearly belongs within the
36:) is the self-designation of an
803:. Indiana Univ. Press, 1966).
765:Language in Culture and Society
763:1:217-38, 1945. Reprinted in:
1:
250:The Jabo are known for their
748:Liberia: Past and Present:
56:
50:
1059:
810:, 2002. Online version:
381:Jabo Proverbs from Liberia
243:
932:
495:. This is enforced as a
362:the common personal name
1033:Ethnic groups in Liberia
926:Ethnic groups in Liberia
857:Federal Writers' Project
840:Grundzüge der Phonologie
789:Liberian Studies Journal
221:town of Fishtown (Waa).
136:Lower Kru Coast District
121:Lower Kru Coast district
844:Principles of Phonology
800:The Languages of Africa
476:), unlike the Glebo in
320:ancestor of the group.
16:Ethnic group of Liberia
837:Trubetskoy, Nikolai S.
791:, 7(2):121–131, 1976.
252:drum-signalling system
1038:Cannibalism in Africa
850:, 7). Prague, 1939.
630:, p. 4, code #180810.
617:H&J, 2002, p. 71.
256:suprasegmental system
166:Garaway Beach (Polou)
1043:Districts of Liberia
795:Greenberg, Joseph H.
447:Geographical factors
276:scientific linguists
28:, variant spellings
880:Maryland in Liberia
833:, 2:183–185, 1929.
719:H&J, pp. 80–81.
42:Republic of Liberia
150:Population centers
123:of the new (1984)
1015:
1014:
823:, 7:30–41, 1931.
683:H&J, pp. 5,66
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38:ethnic group
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22:(pronounced
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18:
1028:Ethnography
674:NST et al.
518:Leopard Men
510:cannibalism
352:patrilineal
234:Wilsonville
46:West Africa
1022:Categories
650:gazetteers
528:References
586:and also
490:virilocal
323:Compare:
318:eponymous
286:The term
282:Etymology
86:districts
821:Language
656:, et al.
264:proverbs
240:Language
115:Location
665:H&B
608:Djabo."
524:alone.
493:exogamy
484:Exogamy
374:Sapir's
268:sayings
227:Yedweke
184:Weteken
169:Genoyah
977:Kpelle
947:Gbandi
831:Africa
559:Nimiah
522:Africa
466:Harper
399:Nimiah
370:Gweabo
364:(g)wea
360:eponym
341:Gweabo
335:Gweabo
301:ba-ntu
215:Nimiah
209:Nimiah
175:Nyambo
109:nation
105:tribes
57:Nimiah
51:Gweabo
1002:Mende
982:Krahn
972:Kissi
962:Grebo
942:Congo
937:Bassa
497:taboo
462:Plibo
437:Grebo
383:are:
356:tribe
260:tonal
219:Grebo
178:Piaty
94:clans
81:tribe
70:Tribe
61:tribe
34:Djabo
30:Dyabo
997:Mano
992:Loma
967:Jabo
957:Gola
761:Word
648:See
573:ETH
348:Jabo
310:Jame
306:Jawe
288:Jabo
266:and
20:Jabo
1007:Vai
987:Kru
952:Gio
859:.
854:WPA
846:).
842:. (
728:WPA
652:at
470:Kru
454:Kru
421:Kru
298:in
292:-bo
138:in
111:".
103:of
54:or
44:in
1024::
870:.
813:.
797:,
784:.
443:.
427:.
366:.
314:Ja
296:ba
278:.
236:.
131:.
63:.
32:,
918:e
911:t
904:v
891:.
885:.
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