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Jabo (, variant spellings ''Dyabo'', ''Djabo'') is the self-designation of an
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
located in the southeastern part of the
Republic of Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a ...
in
West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
. They have also sometimes referred to themselves as Gweabo or Nimiah
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
. English speakers also use the name of the group for a single member of that group, or for their speech variety.


Tribe

Like many of their neighbors in the area, the Jabo have very pronounced
ethnocentric Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...
attitudes,ETH and are frequently referred to both by themselves and by others as a ''
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
'', 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 "
districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
," which are not necessarily congruent with "tribes" defined in local ethnotaxonomic terms. "Tribe" is also occasionally used for a third-order administrative "clan" when the latter comprises multiple ethnic
clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
, as well as for a variety of other more or less ad hoc groups.For a discussion of the use of the term "tribe" in Liberia se
EveryCulture
and als

/ref> The Jabo describe themselves as a "
confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
of
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
s.", or even "a
nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
".


Location

The area inhabited by the Jabo is now mostly in the Lower Kru Coast district of the new (1984) Grand Kru County, with a few outliers across the river in
Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion 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 meas ...
. Their area coincides more or less with the southern half of Lower Kru Coast District in Grand Kru County. This southern portion of the district is defined in terms of Liberian administrative units as the Garawe/Nemia "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.


Population centers


Names of towns

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: :*Garaway Beach (Polou) :*Genoyah :*Nemiah (includes: Glopluken, Jlatiken, Mensiengloh, Nyanoken, Penoken, Yaytueken) :*Nyambo :*Piaty :*Poloya (includes: Poloylowen, Pungbaloken, Tuwaken, Weteken) :*Weteken Since the recent civil war in Liberia, many towns have been emptied, renamed, reclaimed, or swollen by displaced populations. :*Garraway is now called Garraway Beach. :*Half Garraway is now called Yedweke. :*(Upper) Nimiah is now called Wilsonville.


Nimiah

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 Nimiah, which is situated between Garraway and the Seaside Grebo town of Fishtown (Waa). 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 Yedweke, at latitude 4°28'48" N (4.48), longitude 7°52'39" W (−7.8775), altitude 83 m (275 ft); population 1724. 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 Wilsonville.


Language

The Jabo are known for their drum-signalling system, which mirrors to some degree the suprasegmental system of their highly tonal language. The collection of their
proverb A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...
s and
saying A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * ...
s assembled by Herzog and BlooahH&B is often cited in the folkloristic literature. The Jabo language is complex and has been studied by well-known scientific linguists.


Etymology

The term ''Jabo'' in a narrow sense means "Ja people", the ''-bo'' being an animate plural suffix (compare with ''ba'' in ba-ntu). A single member of the group is a ''Jawe'' "Ja + person" and the language *''Jame'' "Ja + tongue"(Glebo form . The significative element ''Ja'' is explained as being the proper name of the
eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
ous ancestor of the group. Compare: : "Glebo man of Fishtown (Waa) clan" : "Glebo people of Fishtown (Waa) clan"


Gweabo

The Jabo are also referred to in the literature as the Gweabo. The Jabo form of the name is . This name is also used for them by at least some Glebo speakers as . The term is not a mere variant of the word ''Jabo'', 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
patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
descent group (in this case a "sub-tribe"), within the larger group ("Jabo
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
"). It may be conjectured to have as an
eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
the common personal name ''(g)wea''. ''Gweabo'' was originally incorrectly generalized to apply to the larger group (the Jabo confederation) because Sapir's Jabo informant was a member of that sub-tribe. Among the subdivisions of the Gweabo sub-tribe mentioned in ''Jabo Proverbs from Liberia'' are: :* :* :*


Nimiah

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 .


Classification

Dealing with a people with little recorded history and for which little detailed
ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
information is available, the most reliable framework for placing them with respect to related peoples is the classification of their language. Jabo clearly belongs within the Kru family of Niger–Congo languages. For further discussion, see the article
Grebo people The Grebo or Glebo people are an ethnic group or subgroup within the larger Kru group of Africa, a language and cultural ethnicity, and to certain of its constituent elements. Within Liberia members of this group are found primarily in Maryla ...
.


Jabo and Grebo

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 Grebo. For a discussion of this see the article Jabo (language).


Geographical factors

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 usable roads connecting them, the Jabo tend to go northwest to market, into a Kru-oriented area at the county seat of (
Barclayville Barclayville is the capital and most populous settlement in Grand Kru County, located in southeastern Liberia about 10 miles inland from Picinicess. As of the 2008 national census, the population stood at 2,733. The Barclayville township strad ...
) and Garraway, north to Bewehn, or sometimes northeast to Plibo, rarely to the commercial and government center in Harper. This tends to emphasize mutual affinity and intercommunication with the Klao (Krao or " Kru Proper"), rather than with the Seaside Grebo. They are also located in the same newly created (1984) county as the Klao ( Grand Kru County), unlike the Glebo in
Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion 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 meas ...
, from which they are once again politically separated.


Exogamy

A cultural trait present among the Jabo, and apparently widespread across the Kru group is the practice of virilocal
exogamy Exogamy is the social norm of mating or marrying outside one's social group. The group defines the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. One form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which tw ...
. This is enforced as a
taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
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 this will be affected by the refugee situation and urbanization.


Allegations of ritual murder and cannibalism

In researching the literature pertaining to the Jabo, one may occasionally come upon references to them practising
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...
and Charles Blooah, Sapir's Jabo informant, apparently made no secret of the fact. 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 1668Liberia: Past and Present: as having this practice culturally entrenched among themselves. Considering the practice's links to Liberian internal politics and secret societies ( Leopard Men), 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
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
alone.


References


Bibliography

DSHerzog, George. "Drum Signaling in a West African Tribe," ''Word'' 1:217-38, 1945. Reprinted in: ''Language in Culture and Society'', pp. 312–23. Ed. Dell Hymes. New York, 1964. &BHerzog, George, and Charles G. Blooah. ''Jabo Proverbs from Liberia: Maxims in the Life of a Native Tribe''. London, Pub. for the International Institute of African Languages & Cultures by Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1936. THGordon, Raymond G., Jr., editor. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition''. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International, 2005. Online version

&DIngemann, Frances, and John Duitsman. "A Survey of Grebo Dialects in Liberia," ''Liberian Studies Journal'', 7(2):121–131, 1976. HG Greenberg, Joseph H., '' The Languages of Africa''. Indiana Univ. Press, 1966). &JHasselbring, Sue and Eric Johnson. ''A sociolinguistic survey of the Grebo language area of Liberia. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2002-074'', 2002. Online version:

NG Sapir, Edward. "Notes on the Gweabo Language of Liberia," ''Language'', 7:30–41, 1931. &B Sapir, Edward, With Charles G. Blooah. "Some Gweabo Proverbs," ''Africa'', 2:183–185, 1929. ST Trubetskoy, Nikolai S. ''Grundzüge der Phonologie''. (''Principles of Phonology''). ''Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague'', 7). Prague, 1939. PA WPA
Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers and to develop a history and overview of the United States, by state, cities and other jurisdictions. It was ...
. ''Life History Manuscripts from the Folklore Project'', 1936–1940. Online version: Library of Congress ''American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 – 1940'', Item 27 of 312 (Nebraska), "Charles Blooah


External links

*''Maryland in Liberia'', U.S. Navy map from 1853 in the Library of Congress,

*Topographic reference map of Grand Kru County as of 2003-09-18

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jabo People Ethnography Ethnic groups in Liberia Cannibalism in Africa Districts of Liberia