Abstract
The Chihera gender disposition in Zimbabwe is an interesting phenomenon. In most cases, Chihera is portrayed as one who thrives on gravitating against socially constructed gender norms. Our chapter endeavours to take stock of the positive and negative traits and behavioural attitudes in the Chihera social construct in a bid to instil a sense of equality and agency among the Zimbabwean indigenous women. The main argument proffered in this chapter is that ignoring an exploration and failure to take stock of Chihera phenomenon’s genderedness is tantamount to leaving un/desirable gender learning to chance. Informed by the Social Reconstruction Theory, the study attempts to uncover the genderedness of Chihera discourse particularly amongst the Shona in Zimbabwe. This is a qualitative study relying on information collected through textual analysis-critical content and discourse analyses of purposively sampled gender texts from the social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook. The main conclusion reached in this study is that the Chihera phenomenon in Shona discourse is a religio-cultural and traditional intangible heritage asset that defines woman/hood for those belonging to the Shava-Mhofu totem. Above all other women of other totems found in Zimbabwe, Chihera stands out in a unique and distinctive fashion. Thus, she possibly can be a valuable religio-cultural and intangible heritage asset that helps in rethinking, reimagining and redefining Shona gender arrangement and invoke the much-needed sense of equality and agency among Zimbabwean men and women.
Beatrice Taringa (PhD) is a Lecturer in the Language and Arts Education at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe. Email: taringabeatrice@gmail.com, Phone Number +263778279547.
Sophia Chirongoma (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. She is also an Academic Associate/Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Theology and Religion (RITR) in the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA). Her research interests and publications focus on the interface between culture, ecology, religion, health and gender justice. Email: sochirongoma@gmail.com or sochirongoma@yahoo.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8655-7365
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Angelica-Nocoleta, N. (2015). Culture and Gender Role Differences. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, XVII(1(7)), 31–35.
Applegate, L. (2013). Breaking the Gender Binary: Feminism and Transgressive Female Desire in Luccia Etxabarria’s Beatritzy los Cuerpos Celestes and La Eva Futura/La Letra Futura. Journal of Feminist Scholarship, 4(Spring), 39–53.
Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic Networks: An Analytic Tool for Qualitative Research. Qualitative Research. Psychology, 3(9), 385–405.
Boushaba, S. (1988). An Analytic Study of Some Problems of the Literary Translation: A Study of 2 Arabic Translations of K Gibran’s The Prophet (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Salford. Retrieved from Usir. Salford.ac.uk/14668/1/doi/136.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender and Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
Chakona, T. (2012). The Impact of Fast Track Land Reform Programme for Women in Goromonzi District, Zimbabwe. Master of Arts Thesis, Rhodes University.
Chiweshe, M. K. (2016). Wives at the Market Place: Commercialisation of Lobola and Commodification of Women’s Bodies in Zimbabwe. The Oriental Anthropologist, 16(2), 229–243.
Collins, R. L. (2011). Content Analysis of Gender Roles in Media: Where are we now and where should we go? Sex Roles, 64, 290–298.
Cotton, C. R., & Diala, A. C. (2018). Silences in Marriage Laws in Southern Africa: Women’s Position in Polygynous Marriages. Speculum Juris, 32(1), 18–32.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approach (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Eckert, P., & McConnell, G. (2015). Language and Gender (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Fairclough, N. (2013). Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Routledge.
Freitheim, K. (2014). Transformative Masculinity, Religion, Development and Gender in Ecumenical Context. In T. S. Dronen (Ed.), Religion and Development: Nordic Perspective on Involvement in Africa. Peter Lang.
Goredema, B. (2017). There is Mhofu, then all other Totems. Religion, Society and Culture, theoverreigstate.org, facebook, Accessed September 3, 2017.
Hachipola, J. S. (1998). Language: Survey of Minority Languages in Zimbabwe. University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Hall, M. (2014). Gender Representation in Current EFL Textbooks in Iranian Secondary Schools. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(2), 253–261.
Hatton, E., & Troutner, E. N. (2011). Equal Opportunity Objectification? The Sexualisation of Men and Women on the Cover of Rolling Stone. Sexuality and Culture, 15, 256–278.
Holzhaeuser, L. (2001). Representation of Femininity in Angela Carter’s Post Modern Female Gothic (Unpublished dissertation) Justus Leibig University, Giessen.
Kanu, Y. (2007). Tradition and Educational Reconstruction in Africa Post-Colonial and Global Times: The case of Sierra Leone. African Studies Quarterly, 10(3), 65–84.
Letsiou, M. (2014). ART Intervention and Social Reconstruction in Education: Secondary Education, ART Education Researched. Athens School of Fine Art, Greece.
Mala, H., & Weldon, S. L. (2010). When Do Governments Promote Women’s Rights? A Framework for Comparative analysis of Policy and Equality Policy Perspectives on Politics. American Political Science Association, 8(1), 207–216.
Maluleke, M. J. (2012). Culture, Tradition, Custom, Law and Gender Equality. Journal of Culture and Gender, 15(1), 1–20.
Mbiti, J. S. (1970). African Religions and Philosophy. Doubleday.
McKay, J. (2006, Autumn). Narrativising the ‘Woman Monster’: Heroines who Transgress the Feminine Script. Quest: the Postgraduate E-Journal by Students in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen`s University Belfast, 2, 1–21.
Morgan, B., & Sakler, R. H. (2012). Sampling and Research Paradigms. In J. G. Maree (Ed.), Complete Your Thesis or Dissertation Successfully: Practical Guidelines. Cape Town.
Mpofu, V., Otulaja, F. S., & Mushayikwa, E. (2014). Towards Culturally Relevant Classroom Science: A Theoretical Framework Focusing in Traditional Plant Healing. Journal of Cultural Studies of Science Education, 9(1), 221–242.
Oyewumi, O. (2010). The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of a Woman: Gender Discourse. University of Minnesota Press.
Punch, K. F. (2009). Introduction to Research Methods in Education. Sage Publications.
Sjogren, K. (2005). Transgressive Femininity: Gender in the Scandinavian Modern Break Through Gender Studies. (Unpublished thesis) London: University College London.
Tabane, E. M. (2004). The Influence of Cultural Practices of Batswana People in Relation to the Transmission of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Department of Social Work. Pretoria: University of Pretoria.
Taringa, B. (2018). Gender Representation in Zimbabwe Ordinary Level 2010-2015 ChiShona Literature Texts. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis), Harare: University of Zimbabwe, Faculty of Education, Department of Languages and Arts Education.
Taringa, B., Vitalis, N., & Tatira, L. (2019). Re-Writing the Feminine Script: An Exploration of Women with Wings in ChiShona Literature Prescribed for Ordinary Level Learners. Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research (ZJER), 31(1), 1–13.
Wainana, M., Hongo, E., & Ogot, G. (2010). Reimagining Gender in Kenyan Literature. In M. Pndurang & A. Bartels (Eds.), African Women Novelists Reimagining Gender (pp. 22–50). Pencraft International.
West, C., & Zimmerman, D. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender & Society, 1, 125–151.
Wrenn, H. (2010). The Woman in Modernism. English Literary File, 2(12), 9–14.
Zondi, N. B. (2013). The Position of Women in Zulu and Shona Societies. The Case of Uvalo Lwezihlonzi and Nervous Conditions. Alternation, 20(2), 164–182.
Zulu, N. S. (2012). Gender and Cultural Representation in the Sotho Novels. Journal of Literary Studies, 28(2), 58–67.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taringa, B., Chirongoma, S. (2023). Socially Constructed Discourse on Chihera: An Asset or Liability in Zimbabwe’s Envisioned Gender Equal Society. In: Chitando, E., Chirongoma, S., Nyakudya, M. (eds) Chihera in Zimbabwe . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12466-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12466-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-12465-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-12466-2
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)