Narrative-historical approach and faith stories of Shona women

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CHAPTER FOUR THE NARRATIVES OF SHONA WOMEN

INTRODUCTION

This is a gestaltic (the whole understood in terms ofits parts) or organic approach in which each Shona woman’s historical situatedness- ethnic (Karanga, Zezuru, Manyika, Korekore and Ndau), gender, creed, and social class is taken seriously. In this way, we acknowledge the differences among Shona women themselves and women in Zimbabwe in general. Not all Shona women are marginalized or experience marginalization in the same way. For example, concerning the feminist project against dehumanization of women through patriarchy, it can be asked whether rural women, who have to struggle with material, health and economic survival issues, see patriarchy as an issue. On the other hand, traditional religion, in particular, ancestral beliefs and practices may have very little or no impact on some urban elite Shona women.
In this organic Christology, pertinent reciprocal questions are:

• Who do Shona women say that Christ is?
• Shona woman, who are you?

In other words, in the women’s quest for the Christ they find as an answer to their questions, they are simultaneously empowered to name both Christ and themselves. In this gestaltic approach, the women are able to come up with an African Shona Christ. The crucial question is, what contribution does this Shona women’s Christological perspective make to the church’s understanding of a contemporary Christology? The same question can be asked of the individual Shona woman’s contribution to an African Shona Christology.
Following the Aristotelian ( cf E. van Eck & A G. van Aarde 1989:779) structure of a narrative (plot) or drama as having a beginning, middle, and end, the Shona women’s drama oflife is set in the backdrop ofthe Incarnation. The narrative thus highlights Shona women,first, as definers of their self-identity, then in the main body they proceed to define their Christian self-understanding, engage in naming Christ (i.e., who Christ is and what God in Christ is doing in their midst) through faith experience, and tell of their participation in the mission of Christ, and finally, celebrate their awareness of the Incarnate Jesus as the Emmanuel (God among us – cf Mt 1:23) or the Christ, Son of the living God (cf Mt 16:16). The climactic point depicts Shona women telling ofthe various ways oftheir dying (the cost of discipleship) and rising Goy of the resurrection) with Christ. As such, the story has a happy denouement in which we are given insight into Shona women’s deep and holistic spirituality as they celebrate their awareness to what God in Christ is doing in their midst. In Shona women’s prayers, songs and liturgies, God in Christ is celebrated as the One who is all in all – the Answer to Shona women’s deepest longings or concerns. The prevailing image of Christ is Muponesi
(Deliverer-Saviour- Redeemer-Liberator).
The stories of women are structured through questionnaires. The collation of these stories is enhanced through the vantage point of participatory observation. My status as an insider is important for a predominantly oral-aural culture. I therefore hope to be able to make connections and fill in missing elements in weaving various strands of the narrative into a coherent and comprehensive whole. In what John Navone (1986:219-222) and Terrence Tilley (1985:23-26; cf. Stephen Crites) call the narrative mediation and quality, respectively, of human experience, the relation between story and personal identity is explored in asking questions, which elicit from participants a personal statement. Four access points ofjamily, ethnic group, social class and church or denomination are used in this structured storytelling. It is noteworthy that gender relations (issues) filter through all these areas of experience. Furthermore, in the context of stories interpreting or illuminating stories, it can also be said that the women’s various stories, in turn, illumine each other. This, in turn, undergirds the feminist tenet of promoting solidarity among women themselves
As the women reflect critically on lived faith experience, the exercise becomes simultaneously consciousness-raising. This is particularly true in the sense that critical reflection resorts to critical memory in probing the biography of the self. This leads to authentic self-definition. Women are urged to become proactive agents of their own history. In this way, it is as Navone (1986:223) says that the potential of the now is discovered, explored, named and actualized within a conversation with the Jesus story and this leads to the construction of a vision for the future. It is a way of knowing that holds in tension past and present for the sake of reshaping the future. In pursuing the power of naming, the women appropriate the power by naming their faith experience in the background of the Incarnation. In this way Shona women give form to their Christian affirmation. It is history, or, more appropriately, her-story not as seen, but as lived out, or herstory born out of the faith experiences of Shona women.

SELF-IDENTITY OF SHONA WOMEN

Of the fifty- six respondents to the questionnaire (1, Q.l), there are twenty-three Karanga, twenty-one Zezuru, five Manyika, four Korekore, and three Ndau. It is noteworthy that there is no neat demarcation ofboundaries as concerning ethnic grouping. For example, respondents in the Buhera area had to make a difficult decision as to whether they are Manyika or Karanga, whereas those in Mutoko area were tom between being Zezuru or Korekore (see Fig 6 below).
Concerning marital status, there are twelve single women, eleven religious women, ten single mothers (both unmarried and divorced mothers), twenty married mothers, and three widows. The sampling was mainly from the Chishawasha semi-urban area, Harare city, Kwekwe city (Midlands) and Serima (Masvingo Province-between Mvuma and Masvingo) rural area (my own home area). Consequently, geographical location gives eighteen urban, twenty-one rural-urban, and seventeen rural. The respondents have various occupations ranging from simple housewives, and rural farmers, domestic workers, students, and nurse-aids to teachers, social workers, seminary and university lecturers, nurses, directors of Aids awareness and prevention campaigns, religious sisters and pastoral workers, civil servant, counsellor, data analyst, and administrators in children’s homes. Among social workers is the founder of the Shungu Dzevana (Children’s aspirations or desires) Trust in Harare- a home for HIVIAIDS orphans, and another respondent pioneered the rehabilitation of street children in Kwekwe.
Concerning denomination affiliation, the majority of respondents (forty-six) belong to the Roman Catholic Church. Otherwise, there are six members of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe, three Anglicans, two members of the Reformed Church of Zimbabwe, and one Methodist. Nearly all the respondents belong to some church support group in which they may have leadership positions. These include, the following guilds, Mary Queen ofHeaven and St Agnes’ guilds (Harare Diocese), St Anne’s and StMary’s guilds (Gweru Diocese) for women and girls, respectively. Responsibilities claimed include a religious sister as member of the General Council, and a mother acting as vatete (aunt) forSt Agnes youth guild.
In self-evaluation of social status, Shona women were generally modest or unassuming in that thirty-eight, fifteen, and one rated themselves as middle-class, poor, and rich, respectively. It is noteworthy that of the women who rated themselves as being of middle-class income, most of them would by western standards be counted as poor. In other words, this is relative poverty. Criteria used in this assessment include: (a) children (understood as gifts from God and especially ifthey are gifted intellectually and have a good profession), (b) occupation (including personal skills and talents), and (c) property (for rural farmers this includes livestock and agricultural equipment like scotch-carts). Shona women were found to be honest and unassuming in this context. In the adage, Ndingatuka Mwari (/would be cursing God), they felt that not to acknowledge God’s gratuitousness would be to curse God. Initially, rural women showed acquiescence to patriarchal stereotypes that undervalue women’s work as no work. This was expressed in the Shona cliches, Handina chandinoita (/am doing nothing) and, Ndakangogara pamba (/am seated at home). When I asked them to reclaim their role and dignity in the home, they were able to see that they are actually overburdened in working twenty-four hours as rural farmers and in household chores and that most ofwoman’s work that is undervalued as no work is subsequently not remunerated.

SHONA WOMEN’SCHRISTIAN SELF-UNDERSTANDING

The spotlight is on consciousness-raising for a better understanding and appropriation of the creation and baptismal status. The quintessential question in theological anthropology challenges Shona women to ask ( cf Appendix II, Qs. 2,3,4,5), what does being created in God’s image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27) and the Christian Magna Carta (1984: 75) that states that there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek (the cultural imperative); neither slave norfree (the social mandate); neither male nor female (the sexual mandate); for we are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Richard Longenecker 1984) mean for them in present day Zimbabwe? In other words, Shona women claim their creation and baptismal dignity and role as they focus on the family, ethic-tribal group, social class and church-denomination as areas of experience. That gender issues filter through all these dimensions, shows that the areas of experience are mutually influencing. Another important observation is that the areas of experience are a double-edged sword in being at once affirming and dehumanizing women. Women acknowledge a type of equality with men that celebrate both commonality and difference. In the cliche equal but different, women recognize that difference does not mean inferior. On the contrary, difference can be celebrated in the richness it brings to each of the communities in focus.

IN THE FAMILY

Women claim to be life affirming in being vessels of grace and in their role as primary agents of instilling cultural, social and Christian values in children. They tell stories and visions never just their own. In their role as care-givers in Zimbabwe today, Shona women are overburdened because ofthe HIV/AIDS pandemic and also because ofthe political turmoil connected with the land grab.
As noted above, Shona women are valued and respected as mothers, aunts, grandmothers, elder sister and in-laws. It is a reciprocal relationship in which respect (deference) for elders and exemplarity are underscored. Shona women claim their dignity as procreators (co-creators with God), teachers, care givers, role models (exemplary), pride of their husbands- also as helper and advisor, fully human and proud to be women and as being a God-given gift to the family. One respondent says, I am the eldest girl and therefore I enjoy respect in the family. The majority of respondents assert that they are respected as vatete (aunt) and confidante to their brothers’ children. The advisory role was spotlighted in the assertion that behind every ~ccessful man is a woman (I suppose the reverse situation also obtains). Grandmothers acknowledged their senior position as matrons of the family. Some ofthese women spoke of a good vamwene-muroora (the owner-the one obtained through ‘roora ‘)relationship and others described it as strained at one time or other. It was expressed, however, that these familial or consanguine (Hebrew: abbi-adelphoi -women and men being ‘brothers and sisters’ [Shona: hazvanzi nehazvnzi], children of the same Father) relationships were lopsided in favour of patriarchy.

Summary .
Keywords 
Acknowledgements
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 On methods
1.3 The scope of the thesis
1.4 Organization ofWork in chapters
Chapter Two: Incarnational Christology
2. 0 Approaches of an Incamational Christology
2.1 Sacramental theocentric (from above) view
2.2 Historical overview of anthropocentric Christo logy
2.3 Functional-horizontal (from the side)
2.4 Theanthropocosmic Christology
2.5 Conclusion
Chapter Three: Narrative Christology 
3. 1 Overview of the historical origins of narrative Christology
3.2 Narrative-historical approach and faith stories of Shona women
3.3 The validation and vindication of the irreplaceable ands singularity of Each human being with regard to a person’s history and life
3.4 Narrative reading of the Bible for an inclusive Christology
Chapter Four: The Narratives of Shona Women
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Self-identity ofShona women.
4.3 Shona women’s Christian self-understanding
4.4 Shona woman, who do you say that I am?
4.5 Shona women alive to what God is doing in their midst
4.6 Shona women tell of how faith in Jesus has changed their lives
4.7 Christian discipleship- being women for others
4.8 Celebrating awareness
4.9 Conclusio
Chapter Five: The Approximation of a Radical and Differential Theology for Today
5.1 Thenobigdealstage
5.2 The eye-opening stage
5.3 The passion or appropriation stage
5.4 Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
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AN INCARNATIONAL CHRISTOLOGY SET IN THE CONTEXT OF NARRATIVES OF SHONA WOMEN IN PRESENT DAY ZIMBABWE