Study Religious Studies notes on Introduction to Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe. Useful for revision, homework, and exam preparation in Zimbabwe.
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FAMILY AND RELIGION STUDIES INTRODUCTION TO INDIGENOUS RELIGION (ZIMBABWE) OVERVIEW IR is a familiar term in Universities, Colleges, Schools; primary and Secondary, seminaries, Theological Colleges, Bible Schools etc. In Europe and the USA there are separate institutes for the study of IR and culture. This shows that there is a global interest in IR today. As a result, there is a volume of literature available in the subject. Many people however, view or treat IR with disdain. The people include the educated Zimbabweans. This disdainful attitude stems from: i. The people's perceived ideas about IR, ii. Complete ignorance of IR, iii. Faulty understanding of IR. The source of faulty understanding is inherited from earlier European writers on the subject. Despite their faulty presentation, they extended some benefits that we need to acknowledge. We owe a lot to these early writers on the subject. They produced a wealth of information that we gather from their writings, for instance, Zimbabwean ways of life and their practices. Until recently, Zimbabweans themselves did not have the penchant to write about their systems of thought. What we know of Zimbabweans today came to us through Ethnographers, Anthropologists, Missionaries, Explorers, Traders and Travellers. They put on record what they saw Africans do and practice as well as what they had Africans say. They also INTERPRETED these practices and sayings in their own way, hence misrepresentations. Misinterpretations/Misrepresentations of Zimbabwean ways of life: Accounts by European Travellers, missionaries and colonial agents are general unreliable. They are based on inaccurate information centred on: - Cultural prejudice, - Biased comparison. Examples: The Explorer Sir Samuel Baker says: IR has no belief in a Supreme Being. It has no form of worship. Darkness of their mind is not enlightened by even a ray of superstition. Their mind is stagnant.