Kpelle

ETHNONYMS: Gerse, Guerze, Kpese, Pessy

Kinship

The only significant kin group is the patrilineage, which is weak in function and shallow in depth, extending only three or four generations. Iroquois cousin terminology with bifurcate-merging avuncular terms is used.

Bibliography

Bellman, Beryl (1975). Village of Curers and Assassins. The Hague: Mouton.

Bledsoe, Caroline H. (1980). Women and Marriage in Kpelle Society. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Erchak, Gerald M. (1977). Full Respect: Kpelle Children in Adaptation. New Haven: HRAF Publications.

Gibbs, James L., Jr. (1965). "The Kpelle of Liberia." In Peoples of Africa, edited by James L. Gibbs, Jr., 197-240. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

GERALD M. ERCHAK