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Articles · Vol. 36 No. 2 (2011): Africa Development

Shona Traditional Religion and Medical Practices: Methodological Approaches to Religious Phenomena

  • Tabona Shoko
    Tabona Shoko
    Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy, University of Zimbabwe. Email: shokotab@yahoo.com
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Vol. 36 · 2011 No. 2 Africa Development AD

Abstract

This article reviews select principal literature on traditional religion and medical practices in Zimbabwe with a view to demonstrating how this subject has been dealt with through the contributions of scholars from a variety of disciplines. In so doing, it paves the way for phenomenol- ogy, which is the alternative approach used in this study. The article explores the relationship between anthropology and sociology as used by previous scholars to study religion and medicine in the context of the Shona pe ple in Zimbabwe on the one hand, and phenomenology on the other.

Shona Traditional Religion and Medical Practices: Methodological Approaches to Religious Phenomena

Cet article fait une relecture de la littérature principale sur la religion traditionnelle et les pratiques médicales au Zimbabwe. Ceci, dans l’optique de démontrer la façon dont ce sujet a été abordé dans différentes disciplines académiques. Cet article jette les bases d’une approche alternative : la phénoménologie. En quoi faisant ? En explorant la relation entre l’anthropologie et la sociologie telles qu’utilisées par les chercheurs pour l’étude de la religion et de la médecine dans le contexte des Shona au Zimbabwe d’une part, et de la phénoménologie d’autre part.

Keywords

Shona religion medical practices Zimbabwe

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Author Biography

  • Tabona Shoko

    Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy, University of Zimbabwe. Email: shokotab@yahoo.com

References

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  17. Shoko, T., 1994, ‘Health and Well-being: A Phenomenological Approach to the Quest for the Essence of Religion’, Unpublished DPhil. thesis, University of Zimbabwe.
  18. Shoko, T., 2007, Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe: Health and Well- Being, London: Ashgate Publishers.
  19. Shoko, T., 2008, (Forthcoming) ‘Old And New: Indigenous Healing in Harare’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, pp. 1-17.
  20. Sjoberg, G. and Nett, R., 1968, A Methodology for Social Research, New York: Harper and Row Publishers."

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