Dorith Minna Ofri-Scheps (1930-2015), known as "Jɛbɛ" to the Vai people, was a linguist and scholar of the Vai language and culture. Her dissertation, "On the Object of ethnology: a propos of the Vai culture of Liberia 1963-88" was submitted and defended in 1991, at the University of Bern, after the outbreak of the First Liberian Civil War had interrupted her field research.Her correspondence covers many aspects of Vai language and culture, touching on the cumulative work of August Klingenheben, Bai Tamia Moore, Gail Stewart, Jangaba Johnson, C. K. Kandakai, and many others. Her research drew on interviews with Mɔmɔlu Cole, and her assistants included Morris Davies, who died in the war, Fatu Kiazolu, and in later life Poppy Willard.
Collections : [Liberian Collections]
Liberian Collections
Herman B Wells Library
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405, United States
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Attention Visiting Researchers: The Liberian Collections are currently closed for research. The Liberian Collections maintains the world’s largest non-governmental collection of Liberian materials. Holdings spanning back to the 1820s include personal papers of Liberian political leaders, intellectuals and scholars, ethnographic research records, government publications, newspapers and photographs.