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). With littie written material available, the basic research technique centered on interviews with old Kpelle men (women were of no aid) who had lived under the traditional system prior to pacification. While this technique is always dangerous in terms of defective memories or adjusted perceptions, by obtaining interviews from a broad geographic area within Kpelleland it is felt that a relatively accurate picture of the fundamental political system was secured. Since the Kpelle tend not to romanticize the past, or see it as a "golden age", the basis for exag- geration seems to have been minimized. On the other hand, nany old men were reserved or afraid to talk (especially in terms of Poro influence) because of fear of the authorities -- both tribal and non-tribal, secular and supernatural. The following, then, pieces together the parts of the puzzle garnered from the Kpelle old men and the sparse other source marerial avail- able: in this sense it is unique. 1. Special recognition should go to Dr. John Gay of Cuttington for his aid and encouragement in working with the Kpelle, and to Paul Mulba for his aid in translation. Besides sources cited throughout the article there are only a few sources on Kpelle culture specifically. Chief amongst these are: J.L. Sibley and D.H. Westermann, Liberia Old and Xew (New York, 192 8) . W.E. Welmers, "Secret Medicine: Magic and Rites of the Kpelle Tribe in Liberia, " Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 5: 2 08-243. Liberian Studles Tournal, I, 1 (1968 RICHARD M. FULTON The ;,'illage 'Minl-State' The primitive Kpelle were organized politically around village groupings of varying sizes. The central cohesive elenlent of the unit seems to have Seen a key indentification by a core group with a 'special' family that produced the Loi-Kalotj (owner of the land). The lands and peoples identified with thls special family were supplemented by more or less auto- nomous villages that attached their loyalties to the unit for protection and perhaps need for relationships higher than local structures could provide; the need for legitimate use of land and for 'fatherly' guidance by a higher authority, all of which could be supplied by the Loi-Kalotj and his family. These outlying villages often became an lntimate part of the core unit. They basically grew out of dissident or restless elements within the original villages. The pattern was one of an individual and his wife (wives, family, hangers on, depending upon the case) moving to a virgin part of the forest and setting up his household and farm. As the family grew and married a village would form. The original family head would be the "chief" of the village and control its destiny and the use of its land. Usuaily family, kin, emotional, or some other ties would attach the village to the core village and its "klng ' .2 It was not unusual for the original settlement to be granted In the first place to the wanderer by the Loi-Kalotj (king' as a boon -- especially if the Loi-Kalorj claimed that the new territory was, indeed, part of :he land over which he was the sovereign, Seinq "owner of the land". Sozetines peoples from far away (30 miles?) ~vouldcome and as.< the Lo:-Kaloij for permission to settle on the fringe of his lands or on hls lands. These more than likely were fellow Kpelle, but n;t al~vays. In re:urr, they pror;lsed loyalty to the Loi-Kalotj. Thsse fringe \-illages scre:::?es ivere able to establish a measure of ;r.dependenc+. The:-e '\,VET2 e7:i?p cases I:: vihirh villages, feeling oppressed z!- thelr Lo]-Kalog, i;ould 5::-ltc!-, al1egia::ces to a neighboring Kpelle king. It a-as not unlikely: that :his (c0~12lead tc a :.;a:. The usual pattern, hot\-eve]-, seers ro havs keen one 1,: v:hlch a more or less permanent attachzen: ;"<as achieved .:-i~ha part:zular IJnlt. In this way recognized :<inqco:-.:~. Grew and es:abilsh?C nore or less speclfic boundaries of :nfl;srce a:?? territory. Csr;alr,iy late ;r, :he development of the Kpelle tr15.-, 13 t:h,~perlod just pr:or to the CcXinc cf the central government, there :..;ere speciilc iir,gdc~:s:?-ith r~co<x:z.-d dlr"ensioi;s. There were even recocnlzc-.j, alliance c:.'sr:.-ls k?:;.:t.~..: 1 secrions of the Kylle trlbe and 2) ,~rl:s outs:de ;-"-aLu. .Alt:ko;~;h i:-e nay never kno:.; the exact component 2. Lci-Kalr,.)~ :.-?I-? nat;irall$ iegarced by v~esternersas "kings" . The :err. rr:e,.ns "a,.:-cer 2- ?he land ' 15 Kpelle , ho::~ever. "Chief" is a more kcr. --n . L.L,r;.. terr, !:,;I: perklaps :?ot as ceccrlut:\;e oi the position. We shall use the ierrn '-.;::g" a?d "I::r;':c--.-. ' 52: "chAeiUand ,'chiefdom" or "paramount . cn1-c.i'' C~ALC!~!SS -see .,--:h~;t h.lrtlng the concept of the vlllage state. THE KPELLE TRADITIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM parts of this system of interactions, we may assune from the evidence that there was at least the skeleton of a recognized cross-kingdom interrelationship pattern. Each of the component political units within the Kpelle tribe (the internal political organization almost never crossed tribal lines! formed its own cohesion. They could, indeed, be described somewhat loosely as "mini-states" based upon the village. Collaboration for this viesvpoint will come with the discussion of the internal communications patterns and the cohesive patterns of reaction to external threats. The alliance systems alone conjure up pictures of sovereign units interacting on a basis of equal status. In at least this sense the system might be compared to the current international system. Keeping in mind the primitive state of the culture, then; but recoqnizing the distinctiveness of the political boundaries of the units we may still find justification in referring to these units as village "mini-states'' . Within the village mini-states there was a high degree of hon2ogeneity of life patterns. Life patterns and goals did not differ between individuals within the society, but there was a group of people who were more success- ful in the exercise of that life pattern. That is to say some men were able to accumulate more wives, some cattle, perhaps some other domestic animals, and farm large tracts of land. In short, some men were wealthy within the given life pattern. Wealth allowed the holder to help poorer people by saving then from their creditors, or by paying fines for them: with many wives, the wealthy man attracted men to his service who would give loyalty, part of his earn- ings (crop), in exchange for the "use" of one of his wives. He collected fines on the other hand for the unauthorized or "misuse" of his wives. Wealth brought more wealth and also brought with it hangers on and people who gave their loyalty as gratitude or repayment for favors or serl.iices. All of which is to say that wealth brought political power. Pov~~erin the sense of people who would follow the lead of the possessor of wealth. People who were in a real sense, bound to him. Some called these people "pawns " but this concept simplifies the actual relationships . Social Divisions We can discern, perhaps, three groups within the Kpelle village mini-state society: first is the ruling group; second comes the "sons of the soil" or the majority of the people; and lastly the slaves. 4 RICmD M. FULTON Gibbs has called this an "incipient class system,'.3 This may be a bit strong, since the first and third catagories represent precious few numbers of people--hardly enough to be called a class. Gibbs says further that "In earlier times there were three classes: freemen, slaves, and pawns.