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Showing papers by "University of Zimbabwe published in 1979"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the second quarter of 1896 limited resistance to European rule was being carried on in separate, unconnected outbreaks and some communities were thinking of starting a full-scale hondo (war); the threat of famine caused by locusts led certain central Shona leaders to contact the religious leader Mkwati in the Ndebele area, then in revolt against the Europeans, in search of locust medicine.
Abstract: There was a basic similarity between the way in which Rhodesian colonial historians looked at the central Shona chimurenga (rising) of 1896 and T. O. Ranger's seminal Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896–7: both thought in terms of a pre-planned conspiracy led by religious authorities and a simultaneous outbreak on a given signal. Ranger' reconstruction of the organization of the chimurenga, however, depended partly upon the misreading and misquotation of the sources. In fact, the rising was neither pre-planned nor simultaneous. In the second quarter of 1896 limited resistance to European rule was being carried on in separate, unconnected outbreaks and some communities were thinking of starting a full-scale hondo (war); the threat of famine caused by locusts led certain central Shona leaders to contact the religious leader Mkwati in the Ndebele area, then in revolt against the Europeans, in search of locust medicine. News of European defeats transmitted by these contacts led to a full hondo in the Umfuli valley, which triggered a ‘ripple effect’ in which Shona communities resisted or collaborated as the news reached them. The element of religious leadership was limited and the element of central pre-planning non-existent. This makes the success and commitment of the local Shona communities all the more impressive, even though it was a traditionalist rather than a proto-nationalist rising.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
D. Munro1
TL;DR: A questionnaire with systematically balanced combinations of event type and explanations for the events was presented to male and female black and white students in Zambia and Zimbabwe-Rhodesia as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Although considerable evidence has accumulated from studies in North America that locus of control is multifactorial, little cross-cultural confirmation has emerged, particularly from Africa. Anthropological data suggest that African subjects should be influenced by supernatural beliefs in making attributions about reasons for events, but in a complex way involving powerful others in their social environment. A questionnaire with systematically balanced combinations of event type and explanations for the events was presented to male and female black and white students in Zambia and Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. The scale performed well psychometrically and partly confirmed the hypotheses, though the factorial structures were remarkably similar across cultures. Two orthogonal factors provided the optional simple structure for both blacks and whites; they comprised items referring to (I) personal effort and attributes, and (II) chance and the supernatural. The roles of interpersonal and societal influences were unclea...

29 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: For over 35 years my contact with the tribal trust lands of Mashonaland has been a very close one as discussed by the authors, and hardly any period during this time was I not working in one of these areas in the country.
Abstract: For over 35 years my contact with the tribal trust lands of Mashonaland has been a very close one. Hardly any period during this time was I not working in one of these areas in the country. My work was concerned not only with pure medical matters but extended more widely to embrace any aspect bearing on the customs and social life of the people themselves. I was always in close contact with those responsible for their religious, social and moral behaviour. In the society among whom I moved their attitudes towards sex were clearly defined. It was an offence for any man to despoil an unmarried girl or to commit adultery with a married woman. Any man guilty of such an offence would be summoned before the chief's court, where he would be severely fined. Such irregularities were easy to detect in a society in which everyone lived in close contact with one another.

9 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relationship between religious precepts, whether pronounced by some authoritative religious official or contained in oral traditions, and ethical norms according to which people make moral judgements is explored in this paper.
Abstract: The Korekore people are members of the Shona-speaking cluster of peoples, and are situated in the extreme north-east of Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe. In this paper, I use mainly data I collected during two years of intensive field research from I969 to 1971, supported by four years of less intensive contact with the communities among whom I had lived. I shall also be drawing a little on data collected by Kingsley Garbett among related communities in the early i96os, and occasionally on other material on Shona peoples. The area I wish to look into is the relationship between religious precepts, whether pronounced by some authoritative religious official or contained in oral traditions, and ethical norms according to which people make moral judgements. We do not expect Korekore behaviour simply to be determined by religious precept, any more than we would expect all Roman Catholics to refrain from using artificial methods of birth control because their Pope has said that they should, or all Christians to keep no more than one coat because their sacred scripture says: "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none." (Luke 3: I ). Not only does the behaviour of individuals often diverge from religious precepts, but people make moral judgements about religious precepts and sometimes contrary to them. Religious authority does not in fact control the ethical norms even of people who in some way give recognition to that authority: it has been argued that religion cannot in principle provide a basis for moral judgements. 2 And yet there is clearly a relationship between religion and ethics. At the lowest level, religious beliefs often contain and express moral values. Religion often provides incentives for complying with ethical norms and sanctions against their breach. Religion often appears to give moral support to traditional authority and custom (as is argued, and over-

5 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The course and management of a patient with Gaboon Viper bite is detailed in the light of modern findings on its anticoagulant properties, its cardiotoxic properties and its effect on the respiratory system.
Abstract: The Gaboon Viper is an uncommon snake in Rhodesia, occurring naturally only in the Eastern Districts and Chimanimani's in the high rainfall zones. It is regarded as one of the most dangerous snakes in Africa, though there are few recorded cases of Gaboon Viper bite, and fewer instances of survival. But in these instances there has been little monitoring of the effects on the patient of the venom and response to treatment. Recently there have been advances in our knowledge of the toxicology of Gaboon Viper venom particularly in relationship to its anticoagulant properties, its cardiotoxic properties and its effect on the respiratory system. This paper details the course and management of a patient with Gaboon Viper bite in the light of these modern findings.

5 citations