https://hdl.handle.net/10646/332 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:20:10 GMT 2026-04-09T13:20:10Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/555 Title: Migrant Chewa Identities and their Construction through Gule Wamkulu/Nyau Dances in Zimbabwe Authors: Daimon, Anusa Abstract: This paper focuses in the construction of the Chewa identity in Zimbabwe through the use of Gule Wamkulu or ‘nyau’ dances. The Chewa are an immigrant ethnic group from Malawi and are a matrilineal entity who distinctly use the Gule Wamkulu (‘big or great dance’) institution to initiate their members into an exalted status of adulthood as well as for entertainment or leisure purposes. The paper is anchored in the assertion that identities are either real, constructed or imagined from a plethora of variables. Thus, it basically argues that these dances are rich traditions that have gone a long way in the construction, reconstruction or imagination of the Chewa identity and in carving a niche for the migrants on the Zimbabwean landscape since the pre-colonial times to the present. The dances have acted as a distinct variable in identity articulation against other popular concepts like race, class, religion, linguistic as well as ethnic characteristics and stereotypes. In other words, the rites have over the years been the most conspicuous identity marker upon which the Chewa identity has been reconstructed or imagined. Despite such vitality and uniqueness, people in general; have tended to misrepresent these dances, which together with their xenophobic tendencies has in the process greatly distorted the image of the traditions and ultimately misconstrued and prejudiced the identity of Chewa people. Therefore, this paper attempts to uncover the dynamics involved in Gule Wamkulu traditions as well as show their role in the construction or imagination of the Chewa identity both amongst the Chewa themselves and the autochthonous groups in Zimbabwe. Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/555 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/554 Title: ‘This is our school…’:Identity, cultural hybridity and the development of an education system among the BaSotho in the Dewure Purchase Areas, Gutu 1932-1960 Authors: Mujere, Joseph Abstract: The development of an Education System among the BaSotho people in Gutu largely revolved around Bethel School, which they established in 1937. In no time at all the school had grown to represent the development of education among the people in the Dewure Purchase Areas, in general, and that of the BaSotho people, in particular. This article seeks to demonstrate that in many ways Bethel School represented the triumphs, failures and challenges faced by the BaSotho in Gutu in the field of education. It also asserts that the way the BaSotho people ran Bethel School reveals some contradictions in the colonial administration’s perceptions of the BaSotho people. Whilst in the early years of the BaSotho people’s settlement in Gutu the colonial administrators viewed them as ‘more advanced natives’ their constant bickering and failures to properly run their school led to the colonial administrators changing their perceptions about the BaSotho. The article is also an attempt to evaluate the success of an attempt at an education system primarily aimed at catering for the needs of the BaSotho people in an area dominated by the Shona people. It endeavours to use the concept of ‘cultural hybridity’ in analysing the development of an education system among the BaSotho in Gutu. The paper grapples with the image of Bethel School more than a school for BaSotho children but as an important part of BaSotho Identity in the Dewure Purchase Areas. Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/554 2007-05-22T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/553 Title: The Marumbi Rain cult: Gender and the interface between rainmaking and the politics of water in Gutu Authors: Mujere, Joseph Abstract: The major concern of this paper is to analyse the socio-political dynamics of the Marumbi Rain cult in Gutu. Of central importance here will be the interface between rainmaking and the politics of water. The Marumbi Rain Cult provides an interesting scenario where a woman, Marumbi Karivara with rainmaking powers ended up transforming the power into political influence. In the end, not only did she assume control over rainmaking in Gutu, but also the control of sacred groves, pools and springs around Mt. Rasa where the rain cult was based. As a result of her rainmaking powers she also founded the Munyaradzi Headmanship. Upon her death her only son, Chinamasabwa took over control of both rainmaking powers and control of the Headmanship. In recent years disputes have erupted between the descendents of Chinamasabwa and those of Marumbi Karivara’s brother Chagonda and these have centred on the control of the rain cult and the sacred groves around Mt. Rasa. The disputes have also extended to the issue of legitimacy of the descendents of Chinamasabwa’s control of the rain cult, the sacred groves, pools springs and also the Munyaradzi Headmanship. This paper is therefore an attempt at giving a genealogy of the intricate politics of rainmaking, water, gender and politics in an area that is drought prone. It submits that for the Shona, the whole rhetoric of water politics remains inseparable from the institution of rainmaking, the influence of rainmakers and the spirituality of water. Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/553 2007-03-28T00:00:00Z