Jabo (pronounced [ɟʱɑbo],[1] variant spellings Dyabo, Djabo) is the self-designation of an ethnic group located in the southeastern part of the Republic of Liberia in West Africa.
Like many of their neighbors in the area, the Jabo have very pronounced ethnocentric attitudes,[4] and are frequently referred to both by themselves and by others as a tribe, a term that in Liberia has a meaning imprecise at best.
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.
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.
The collection of their proverbs and sayings assembled by Herzog and Blooah[12] is often cited in the folkloristic literature.
[13] The term Jabo in a narrow sense means "Ja people", the -bo being an animate plural suffix (compare with ba in ba-ntu).
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.
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.
[18] 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) 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.
A cultural trait present among the Jabo, and apparently widespread across the Kru group is the practice of virilocal exogamy.
[20] Nonetheless, the exogamy factor has a certain effect of heightening intergroup awareness and communication.
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 1668[21] 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.
for the International Institute of African Languages & Cultures by Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1936.
Online version: Library of Congress American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 – 1940, Item 27 of 312 (Nebraska), "Charles Blooah" [5].