https://hdl.handle.net/10646/765 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 01:31:51 GMT 2026-04-10T01:31:51Z http://ir.uz.ac.zw:8080/jspui/retrieve/c789eb60-6a94-46c3-b01f-618d8d38bc64/arts.jpg https://hdl.handle.net/10646/765 https://hdl.handle.net/10646/4796 Title: Schism in Pentecostal churches: a case study of Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Zimbabwe 2018 great schism Authors: Musariri, John Abstract: This dissertation has been an analysis of the causes of schism in Pentecostalism with special focus on the great schism of 2018 in the AFM in Zimbabwe. Qualitative research methodology has been used in this research through unstructured interviews. The dissertation explored schism in the Early Church with special focus on the Johannine community which is evidence to the fact that schism were experienced since the early history of Christianity. AFM in Zimbabwe is regarded as the mother of Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe. Since its existence in Zimbabwe, there were a number of individuals who broke away and formed their ministries. However, a great schism was witnessed in the year 2018 where apart from other individuals who started their own ministries, two major groups emerged, both claiming the same name and assets as they regard themselves the authentic AFM in Zimbabwe. One group supports the AFM in Zimbabwe constitutional reforms while the other condemns the constitutional reforms. The study investigated on the causes and impact of this great schism in AFM in Zimbabwe. The dissertation concluded that the impact of the schism has both positive and negative effects. It was discovered that the AFM in Zimbabwe is continuously facing schisms since the 1930s. Apart from other causes, doctrinal differences are the major causes of splits throughout the phases of schisms in the AFM in Zimbabwe. Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/4796 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/4795 Title: The contribution of African traditional religion (A.T.R.) to the environmental crisis as key to poverty reduction with special reference to Mhondoro district in Mashonaland West province. Authors: Chikunguru, Precious Abstract: This is a study of the contribution of African Traditional Religion to the environmental crisis as key to poverty reduction. The study focuses on the areas of Mhondoro-Ngezi and Mubaira District. The environmental crisis and the poverty crisis are among the major challenges the people in Mhondoro are facing. This study argues that, the Shona people of Mhondoro conserve the environment well through their taboos, totems and belief systems. Taboos and totems have been used successfully to promote natural resource conservation, that is, the land, animals, water bodies, mountains, forests and trees. The study argues that, these practices are helping in the reduction of poverty in Mhondoro. Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/4795 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/3489 Title: Where did the African leaders go wrong? An analysis of selected texts by peter Abrahams and Ayi Kwei Armah. Authors: Sithole, Josephine Abstract: The aim of this dissertation is to examine where the African leaders have gone wrong considering that they have been blamed for the lack of development in Africa. It looks at their failure as a betrayal of the aims and ideals of the people at independence. This lack of development has been attributed to their lack of ideology. This dissertation seeks to discover to what extent this applies. Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/3489 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/3404 Title: Identity and democracy in pro-democracy protest theatre in Zimbabwe: 1999-2012 Authors: Chikonzo, Kelvin Abstract: This study investigates a brand of theatre that is oppositional to oppression. This theatre, which this study calls protest theatre, predicates its practice upon democratic intentions and values. In Zimbabwe, some scholars valorise protest theatre’s oppositional and adversarial stance to the state as an indicator of how it imbues democratic values. Some scholars also celebrate the manner in which it provides counter hegemonic space to enhance citizenship as a reinforcement of pro-democracy’s protest theatre’s democratic affinity. This, in my view, creates a problem in the sense that, these scholars pay scant attention to subtle processes of exclusion, paternalism and domination that are, unfortunately, inherent in protest theatre. Whilst there can be little doubt to the fact that protest theatre provides democratic space that enhances citizenship through theatre, there is also a need to interrogate the manner in which it accords subaltern voices agency or authority over their intellectual and physical actions in designing, implementing and modifying the discourse of social and political reform that prodemocracy protest theatre espouse during and after the Zimbabwean crisis. To this effect, this study investigates the harmony, dissonance and tension between democratic intentions and practice in prodemocracy protest theatre. It interrogates how selected performances of protest theatre represent the agency and interests of marginalised sections of society. It examines relations of power that obtain in protest theatre with the intention of exploring how protest theatre accords subaltern citizens the ability to design, modify, implement and lead, at an intellectual level, the struggle for democratic reform in Zimbabwe. This study, therefore, investigates practices that undermine the democratic intentions of protest theatre such as exclusion, paternalism and construction of derogatory identities through biased representation of the agency of various social groups in various performances. Consequently, the study analyses how various performances mediate on the identities of various social groups in order to legitimise the moral and intellectual control of the struggle for democratic change by certain social groups at the expense of others. The study also explores how selected productions liberated or undermined the semiotic autonomy of the spectators. It looks at the relationship between style and democracy with the intention of analysing how selected performances enabled or undermined the audience’s right to create their own meanings from various performances. Hence, this study also extends its democratic thrust by way of analysing directorial endeavours to create open performances as opposed to enclosed performance that lock meaning and interpretation to directorial intention. Thus the efficacy of style to democratic commitment is a key aspect of inquiry in this study. This study employs post-linear performance theory to examine issues of power between the performance and their spectator in as far as the generation of meaning is concerned. It also deploys theories of democracy, particularly those of the public sphere and counter public sphere in order to ascertain the extent to which selected productions created citizen forums that were in keeping with democratic expectations. Theories of power have been useful as they help to track issues of domination and strategies of domination that normally undermine democratic intentions. The study uses techniques of performance reconstruction in addition to those of analysing live performances. It also makes use of semiotic theory. The data gathered through these methods is interrogated through the theoretical framework thereby linking theory to methodology. Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/3404 2017-03-01T00:00:00Z