Focussing on Archaeozoological faunal analysis, this dissertation aims to investigate the animal food utilization practices of the Ndzundza Ndebele by combining archaeozoologcial methods, archaeological data, ethnographic and historic information. The Ndzundza Ndebele inhabited three different sites in the Steelpoort River Valley during c. 1700 AD – 1900 AD. They were forced to relocate from KwaMaza and Esikhunjini to KoNomtjarhelo as a result of continual fighting between themselves and contemporary Iron Age/Historic communities, the British and the Boers during this period. I aim to identify the animal species utilized by the Ndzundza Ndebele in addition to whether or not the hostile and politically unstable period had any effect on Ndzundza animal food procurement, use and discard. Additionally I investigate whether the faunal remains recovered from the three sites can be used to identify ethnic affiliations, gender roles and ritual use with regards to animals and/or animal parts. Ultimately, I aim to demonstrate that faunal remains cannot be fully understood and interpreted without incorporating relevant ethnographic and/or historic information and as comprehensive an archaeological context as possible. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

A content analysis of Leonard Karikoga Zhakata’s sungura music unpacks shared experiences of Zimbabweans during a decade of crises.Various musicians composed music pregnant with cultural meaning. These genres defied the ruling Zanu PF party‘s propaganda. The ZANU P.F. flagged enemy was imperialist history, whose characteristic was bankrupt in civil justice. Common sense ‘umunthu’ (‘Humaness)’ philosophy could have witnessed the ruling party stand by the people at the height of economic decline. This dissertation argued that the sungura genre became a formidable force. The music had dramatic effect of unifying citizens of different distinct cultural traditions, often which set Shona, Manyika, Korekore, Changana and Ndebele apart. ‘Mugove’ ‘(Reward) and ‘Hupenyu mutoro’ (Life is a burden) lyrics manifested thought processes, ideas and actions which projected popular unity against ruling elite hegemony. Zimbabweans’ collective cultural awareness that could have defined social experiences indirectly or directly motivated formations of oppositional political establishments. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was the brainchild of political disillusionment chorused in “Hupenyu Mutoro’ (Life is a burden) and ‘Mugove’ (Reward) lyrics. The musical texts unravelled the hidden sin of gross graft by the powerful built on self aggrandisement at the expense of the vulnerable subalterns. The sungura genre manifested an art of aggressive entertainment and enjoyment yet passively and remotely awakening citizens to the obtaining dire economic hardships. The genre’s scholarly fabric and dynamics, cut deep into life sensibilities as exemplified by ‘Hupenyu Mutoro’. The deplorable life style experienced by the suffering majority epitomised by political repression and economic meltdown became catalyst for political participation and opportunities for plural voices.This dissertation argues that academic curricula harnesses the influential sungura genre in teaching a people’s story. Sungura music authenticates national historical versions that comfortably orbits around official realities of civil governance processes, what Fanon refers to as ‘a zone of occult instability (Fanon, 1963 p. 253). Unemployment, hyper-inflation, cholera out breaks, empty shelves in shops compounded with a ravaging parallel market prices became food for thought. Disllusionment nagged Zimbabweans below and above the poverty datum peg vis a viz the material power index of a handful citizens in the ruling party. Hence Zhakata’s ‘Hupenyu mutoro’ (Life is a burden) and ‘Mugove’ (Reward) became a classical and contested terrain that motivated the teaching and learning of Zimbabwean history. / Communication / M.A. (Communication)

Bibliography: leaves 255-295 / The study of the Church of Christ’s ‘Identity- and Mission-Continuity’ in the Zimbabwean context explores how the Christian faith should be interpreted and contextualised in Africa. The Church of Christ in Zimbabe (COCZ) is a Christian movement claiming to be representative of the ethos of the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ on the day of Pentcost. The thesis raises critical questions of Christian identity and transformation in missionary founded churches like the COCZ in an attempt to contribute towards a locally based study of the Church. Consciousness to being a Church founded by Jesus Christ has implications for Christian unity (oneness) and ecumenism in the COCZ, and its wider Christian networks1. Use of its theological tenets, which are indeed congruent with its projected identity, to explore its history when it came to Zimbabwe in relationship to its founding charism helped because of scarcity of literature on the history of Christian denominations in Zimbabwe. This thesis has followed four objectives that are related to the four stages of experiences by the Church Jesus Christ founded, namely, the (1) early Church, (2) reformation evangelism, (3) missionary enterprise and, (4) contemporary (African) expressions of the faith. This study has investigated the origin and reasons for the formation of the Church in the midst of others; and why its missionaries chose Zimbabwe where there were other denominations. Local experiences of the Church after the departure of white missionaries motivated this study with questions on how the process of inculturating the gospel in the COCZ raised, especially the tension between continuity and discontinuity, linking and delinking, similarity and dissimilarity as well as diversity and diference. Creative synthesis on what Jesus intended; what missionaries brought; and what the God of history is doing in the contemporary life and efforts of the Church were implied and/or explicated. Using a two-pronged approach to the study, the thesis has, first, unearthed (primary) documents like minutes from church board meetings by Europeans (with misionary thinking that developed from these origins), to contextual (secondary) documents (on how local theologians in the context have engaged the different Christian doctrines in the Zimbabwean context). Secondly, an empirical method was used to interview and distribute questionnaires to a number of individuals, inclusive of those who were in the COCZ leadership and ordinary members. Data collection tools were semi-structured, giving respondents freedom to express themselves and/or their views on what the COCZ was doing and what they believe must be done. Data from interviews and questionnaires were correlated with views expressed in the written sources. The data was interpreted heuristically, in order to give light to new knowledge that was being formed in the process. As an interpretive tool, hermeneutics (the phenomenological approach using Atlas.ti 8 (SPSS, Nvivo 8) - for verbatim transcription) was made key in looking into the context, culture and religion of the COCZ. The thesis attempted to create a dialogue by relating identity, communal ontology and epistemology to the empirical study findings, literature and the methodology. Ecology and gender were some of the indispensable aspects of theology, crucial for human survival, harmony and peace that were discussed because they were neglected in the COCZ. The thesis also revisted differences and similitudes found in the gospel in relationship to the intended and unintended 1 Unity and oneness expressed in John 17 [“Et Unum Sint” – That they may be one], emphasise the sociality of the Godhood through the doctrine of perichoresis, which is unity of the Godhead in the economy (our) of salvation. xiii cultural contributions of the Ndebele and Shona so far, with the purpose of repositioning the COCZ within its own transformative framework. This helps the Church with a strategy of how to model its theology in an African context and how to learn from its past with the view to transform itself for the 21st century Zimbabwe. The study is not exhaustive on the nature, history and mission of the COCZ, and many avenues like hermeneutics, church polity, public theology, conflict studies and church doctrine can be carried out using the COCZ as a case study. In all, the study has laid a foundation for the contextualization, evangelization, inculturation and incarnation of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the COCZ in a postmodernist society. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Phil. (Systematic Theology)

The study sought to investigate how the symbiotic relationship between amaXhosa and amaNdebele impacted on IsiXhosa language and amaXhosa culture in Mbembesi area in Zimbabwe. The study was conducted where two ethnic groups of amaXhosa and amaNdebele coexist. Language policies in the past have disadvantaged amaXhosa by treating the language as a minority language which led to its marginalisation at school and in public life. Dynamic Social Impact Theory was used to explain the concept of the evolution of language. Language contact, language change, and bilingualism are the main terms that were discussed in relation to what happened to the two languages of study. The case study was descriptive in nature. The participants were purposefully selected according to what the researcher desired to achieve. The data were collected through interviews with heads of schools in Mbembesi, teachers, elders and youths of the community. Document analysis was also employed when the Indigenous Languages syllabus and teachers’ schemes were observed. The pupils were given a topic on which to write a short composition in IsiXhosa and IsiNdebele to ascertain if indeed IsiNdebele had impacted on IsiXhosa. A comparison between IsiXhosa of Mbembesi and that of South Africa was made as a way of verifying if there has been a change from the original IsiXhosa that is spoken in South Africa. The two ethnic groups’ cultural activities were also studied as a way of investigating the level of impact in their way of life. After administering the research instruments, the findings revealed that there is a level of impact on IsiXhosa language and amaXhosa culture through their contact with amaNdebele. The terminology in the two languages has overlapped as well as their cultural lives. The Zimbabwean 2013 Constitution has tried to raise the status of IsiXhosa by making it officially recognised but it seems to be still functioning at community level as before. IsiXhosa is still not learned at school although it was introduced in 2013 in the two pilot schools but which discontinued in 2016 reverting to IsiNdebele citing lack of teaching and learning materials. The recommendations from the study include: that the teachers should be trained in IsiXhosa at institutions of higher learning; that amaXhosa educated personnel should spear-head the writing of teaching and learning materials and that the language should be used in public life so that its speakers maintain their identity. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / Ph. D. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)