Download Download
VOLUME I OCTOBER 1968 NUMBER 1 JSHED BY THE AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER, REPAUW UNIVERSITY, GREENCASTLE, INDIANA - VOLUME I Fall 1968 NUMBER 1 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Edited by: Svend E. Holsoe , DePauw University David M. Foley, University of Georgia Published at the African Studies Center, DePauw University CONTENTS THE KPELLE TRADITIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM, by Richard M. Fulton CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE 19 FIELD NOTES ON TRIBAL MEDICAL PRACTICES IN CENTRAL LIBERIA, by Kenneth G. Orr TWO HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE KRU COAST, by Ronald W. Davis A. A. ADEE'S JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO LIBERIA IN 182 7, by George E . Brooks, Jr . THE TUBMAN CENTER OF AFRICAN CULTURE, by Kjell Zetterstrom Emphasizing the social sciences and humanities, the Liberian Studies Journal is a biannual publication devoted to studies of Africa's oldest republic. Copyright 1968 by The Liberian Studies Association in America. Manuscripts, correspondence and subscriptions should be sent to: Liberian Studies Journal, African Studies Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana 4 6135 . THE KPELLE TRADITIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM Richard M. Fulton The Kpelle are the largest tribal group in Liberia, numbering around 150,000. Residing in the central interior of the country, rcughly between the St. Paul and St. John Rivers, they were amongst the last tribal units to be pacified by the central-modernizing government. Since thls paciii- cation program was only completed in the early 19201s, the Kpelle offer a good opportunity to investigate the primitive system that perservered, on the whole, until that time. Remarkably little has been written on the Kpelle as such and almost nothing on their traditional political system.' This effort is part of a larger attempt on the part of the author to trace the development of the political change amongst the Kpelle researched while in Liberia teaching at Cuttington College (October, 1966- July, 1967).
[Show full text]