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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Cognitive Aspects of Agriculture among the Kpelle: Kpelle Farming through Kpelle Eyes
Author:Gay, John H.ISNI
Year:1989
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:14
Issue:2
Pages:23-43
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:Kpelle
subsistence farming
rice
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:In order to find out how the Kpelle in the village of Gbansu-solon-ma in central Liberia understand farming, the author applied two statistical techniques, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, which both depend on obtaining answers to a range of questions within a framework that allows the answers to be presented in a two or more dimensional form, where spatial relationships correspond to cognitive connections. In this article he analyses Gbansu responses to questions on types of vegetation and land, types of land on which farming is done, the main crop, rice, and other crops, and the allocation of labour. It was found that rice cultivation provides the framework for all other activities. In order to grow rice, the community depends on a complex attitude to and knowledge of the land and its resources within the circumscribed territory at its disposal. It knows what varieties of rice, as well as other crops, to plant on the different types of forest, bush and soil. And it organizes the people of the community in a complex social system that allows its leaders to create and maintain the social structure that is supported by the producers of rice.
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