A critical examination of patterns of research in the academic study of Shona traditional religion, with special reference to methodological considerations.
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Date
1997
Authors
Dziva, Douglas.
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Abstract
This thesis is a critical examination of patterns of research
in the academic study of Shona traditional religion, with
special reference to methodological considerations. I analyse
the methods and approaches used so far by prominent writers in the study of Zimbabwe's Shona traditional religion so that we
may be able to develop better ways of researching it. I then
discuss ways that ought to inform and direct the research
methods that are most likely to yield adequate empirical
studies of the Shona people.
I analyse works of the "early writers", as well as those of
Michael Gelfand, Gordon Chavunduka and Michael Bourdillon.
Where relevant, I explore the connection between the
researchers' religious, cultural, academic or professional
"baggage" and how this relates to their research. Discussing
methodological issues such as: the "insider-outsider"
question, the "emic-etic" issue, value-judgment as well as the
questions of reductionism, "subjectivity" and "objectivity" in
scholarship, I examine these writers' attitudes to, and the
ways they wrote about Shona traditional religion and cultural
practices. I assess their approaches and research methods in
relation to those from various disciplines such as history,
phenomenology, theology, anthropology and participant
observation. I analyse the extent to which these writers, for
example, utilised the historical approach or presented insider
perspectives in an endeavour to reach an adequate and thorough
understanding of Shona religion and culture.
In view of the fact that Shona traditional religion is a
polyvalent and polymorphic community religion, I argue that no
one approach and method can be said to be "the" only method so
as to attain a comprehensive understanding of the meanings
veiled in Shona religion and culture. Furthermore, given the
nature of Shona traditional religion, it is essential for
researchers to exploit as much of oral history as possible.
Thus, researchers also need to learn the Shona language, live
in the community for a long period of time, attend and observe
every bit of Shona life so as to see, hear and understand how
these phenomena fit together. It is suggested that
methodological conversion and agnostic restraint need to be
forged into a multi-disciplinary and poly-methodic science of
religion in the quest of a research model to be used in order
to attain a better understanding of Shona religion, culture
and society.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.
Keywords
Shona (African People)--Religion., Shona (African People)--Religion--Research., Research--Methodology., Religion--Research., Theses--Theology.