Mhani Vekusveka: Foregrounding Shangaan Women’s Role in Nurturing Life with a Special Focus on Traditional Maternal Health Practices in Zaka District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This chapter draws insights from the Shangaan people in Zaka district, Zimbabwe, in an endeavour to foreground women’s role in childbirth, not only in Zimbabwe, but globally as well. The crux of this chapter is to assess whether the indigenous Shangaan women are aware of their crucial role and whether or not they are empowered enough to claim acknowledgement for their pivotal role in carrying, birthing and sustaining lives. The qualitative method was used in extracting data from the informants. The individual face-to-face interviews were used as data-gathering instruments. The theoretical framework adopted in this chapter heavily leans on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory (Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978) which states that social conditions and culture inevitably influence the way people perceive the world. The chapter also appraises Shangaan women’s role in administering conception-enhancing traditional medicines. It examines the extent to which such indigenous knowledge that has been handed down from one generation to another can contribute towards the achievement of women’s health and wellness (Sustainable Development Goal 3) and gender equality (Sustainable Development Goal 5). The chapter also affirms that in each community, there are some women who possess knowledge of the appropriate and effective indigenous medications to be taken in order to facilitate the smooth delivery of the baby devoid of any complications through the widening of the birth canal. The fundamental role of nyamukuta (traditional midwives) who assist the pregnant women during the prenatal period through provision and administration of the appropriate shrubs, roots and powders to take care of the unborn infant and the expectant mother is also assessed. The chapter concludes by noting how most of the Shangaan women who participated in the study were already aware of their essential role in giving birth to a child and how they felt proud to fit into that role.

This is a Shangaan term loosely translated as the woman/feminine figure who prepares meals and feeds the whole family which denotes women’s nurturing roles and their integral contribution towards sustaining the family in a holistic manner.