ABSTRACT
The term " Jerawa ” is composed of Jere, the name of a village of one element of the Jerawa peoples, and -awa the Hausa plural ending of tribal names.1 Ames, in the Gazetteer of the Plateau Province, states that " Jerawa is a generic term for a variety of peoples/' in fact those of Amo, Buji and Jere Districts of Jos Division, Plateau Province. The term " Jerawa group " is here intended to include all these, together with a number of closely related peoples of nearby Zaria and Bauchi Provinces, and the Rukuba, located in the Birom Tribal Area (District), Jos Division. The Gazetteer adds, “ The name Jerawa should not be confused with that of Jarawa” : the fact is, however, that the two groups to which these names are commonly applied are so intermingled that certain communities-for example, Ribina, Naraguta, Dugusa, Fedare, and probably others as well-are affiliated with both.2 However, no connection is known to exist between either the Jerawa or the Jarawa of the Plateau Area and those peoples of the Gongola region located roughly between Gombe and Biu, to whom similar names are sometimes applied: the Tera (Terawa), Dera (Derawa) or Kanakuru, Jera (Jerawa) and Jara (Jarawa).
