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The Mende are a group of people who live primarily within the southern third of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Historically, they are rather recent arrivals to this area, appearing no earlier than the sixteenth century as invading forces advancing from the south. Their language (also called Mende) belongs to the Niger-Congo group of languages. Traditional Mende economic life mostly revolved around rice farming in uplands and gardening around homesteads. With the increasing migration of young men to towns, the Mende have come to rely on the cultivation of economically sound and labor saving commercial tree-crops such as cocoa, coffee and palm trees.

Culture Summary

The politics of polygyny in Mende education and child fosterage transactions

School fees and the marriage process for Mende girls in Sierra Leone

Why Mende became tree croppers

Rainforest relations

The Mende of Sierra Leone

Creating the appearance of consensus in Mende political discourse

Contributions to a knowledge of the material culture of the Mende in Sierra Leone

Author	Title	Publication Date
Aguwa, Jude C. U.	Culture Summary	2010
Bledsoe, Caroline H.	The politics of polygyny in Mende education and child fosterage transactions	1993
Bledsoe, Caroline H.	School fees and the marriage process for Mende girls in Sierra Leone	1990
Isaac, Barry L.	Why Mende became tree croppers	1998
Leach, Melissa	Rainforest relations	1994
Little, Kenneth Lindsay	The Mende of Sierra Leone	1951
Murphy, William P.	Creating the appearance of consensus in Mende political discourse	1990
Staub, Jules	Contributions to a knowledge of the material culture of the Mende in Sierra Leone	1936

Mende

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