The Religious Dimension To Intercultural, Values And Citizenship Education: A Call For Methodological Re-Consideration In Zimbabwe's Religious Education Curriculum

A ZJER article on Zimbabwe's religious education curriculum.Because of her history, post colonial Zimbabwe is characterized by diverse and heterogeneous religious and cultural beliefs and practices. Some of these beliefs and practices, as well as norms and customs, are inextricably bound to particular religious traditions and philosophies such as African Traditional | Religion, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Bahai Faith, Taoism and Confucianism. Despite the multiplicity of this country’s religious contours, the religious education curriculum has sadly remained neo-confessional to a large extent. In this pluralistic environment, the inhabitants have to grapple with issues of moral decadence, individualism, identity crises, intolerance, cultural, concubinage, among others, yet the Zimbabwe's religious education curriculum cosmetically rather than radically addresses these vices. The curriculum is not consistent with the cultural diversity of this society. It is against this backdrop that this study assumes that a paradigm shift in terms of methodology in the teaching and learning of religious education can promote intercultural, values and citizenship issues with the view of counteracting the aforementioned anomalies and dis dis-orientations. Informed by 'modem' approaches in the teaching and learning of religious education, such as phenomenology, dialogue, multi-faith, interpretive and religious literacy, this paper explores the religious dimension to intercultural, values and citizenship education. Although these concepts are related to several other disciplines such as philosophy, linguistics, anthropology and history, this study is solely interested in their relationship to religious education

Incestuous Child Sexual Abuse In Shona Society: Implications On The Educational Achievements Of The Girl Child

A ZJER article on the implications of negative cultural practices on the education of the girl child in Zimbabwe.Every society has rules that endorse and those that prohibit sexual relationships between and among its members. Incestuous sexual relationships are amongst the castigated relationships and taboos were put in place to prohibit such sexual practices. Incest taboos which exist in many societies were meant to concretise the sexual and marriage prohibitions. The Shona of Zimbabwe strongly condemn incestuous relationships which they call ‘makunakuna’ and attract severe punishment. However, incestuous child sexual abuse has become a prominent issue in modern day Zimbabwe. Its high prevalence is a concern for society especially in this era of HIV and AIDS. In this regard, the intention of this research is to find out the implications of incestuous child sexual abuse on the educational achievements of the girl child in Zimbabwean Shona society. The assumption of this research is that the main victim of incestuous child sexual abuse is the girl child. The inspiration of focusing on the girl child is derived from the gender inequalities that continue to define African societies in general and Zimbabwe in particular. Such inequalities have seen most of the victims of incestuous sexual abuse being girl children. Informed by various theories among them the culture- historical, feminist, sociological and psychological, this research makes a critical analysis of Zimbabwean Shona society’s attitudes towards women as a way of explaining the motivational factors which lead to the occurrence of incestuous child sexual abuse. Unstructured interviews, questionnaires, and general observations were used in gathering data relevant for this paper. Due to difficulties encountered in getting data from alleged perpetrators and victims of child sexual abuse, researchers had to gather data from eyewitnesses of such abuses

Social media and the moral development of adolescent pupils: soulmates or antagonists?

A research paper on the role played by social media in the educational development of adolescents in Zimbabwe.Since the turn of the new millennium Zimbabwe has experienced extensive expansion of Internet access through desktop computers, laptops and cell phones. These gadgets have led to the phenomenal rise in the use of social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Skype as e-learning resources. Undergirded by situational analysis, Kohlberg's theory of moral development and unhu/ubuntu moral philosophy, this article interrogates the impact of this rapid growth of social media networks, as e-learning resources, on the moral development of adolescent pupils in Harare (Zimbabwe). Data were gathered through document analysis, interviews and focus group discussions with adolescent pupils, students, teachers and parents. The study established that pupils' interaction with social media platforms is largely detrimental to their moral development. Given that the abuse of Internet by adolescents and other social groups who interact with them is a serious matter that inhibits moral development of pupils, this article calls for unhu/ubuntu based cyber interactions, as well as, the enactment of cyber smart legal frameworks which protect adolescents. The article also advocates a curriculum that balances technology with moral education

The prophylactics debate: is Unhu/Ubuntu an alternative for Zimbabwe?

A ZJER debate on whether cultural morals are alternative methods of curbing HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe.In view of the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS infection among Zimbabwean school children, liberals have been calling for the distribution of prophylactics, commonly known as condoms/sheath, to pupils. This, however, has sparked a great deal of controversy as the conservatives, guided by the religio-cultural and moral philosophy of unhu/ubuntu, strongly feel that while it is necessary to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS among pupils, distributing prophylactics to pupils is an anathema. Using data collected through focus group discussions, interviews and document analysis, this article explores the merits and demerits of issuing these prophylactics to school children in the religio-cultural context of Zimbabwe. In doing this, empirical evidence from countries such as Zambia, Uganda, United States of America and Britain, have been cited in an attempt to demonstrate the appropriateness or inappropriateness of distributing prophylactics to pupils. The study revealed that instead of prophylactics, a curriculum that promotes unhu/ubuntu moral philosophy has the potential to offer a more appropriate response to the problem ofHIV and AIDS among pupils. The philosophy requires us not only to reconsider, but also to radically transform the socialisation of the boy child and men

The Bible and Children in Africa

The relationship between the Bible and Children in Africa is a topic of highest relevance. This book is treating it in two main perspectives which often are intertwined: | The exegetical perspective “Children in the Bible” is dealing with the concepts of childhood in biblical texts, asking for example: How are children conceived in different texts. What is their status in family, society and church? What is their relation to God? What is the metaphoric use of childhood in biblical soteriology? What is the function and meaning of calling adult persons “children” (of God, or of the Apostle)? | The contextual perspective “African children of today and the Bible” is dealing with the different life settings African children find themselves in and how the Bible is present in these life settings. Here the questions for example are: What is the status of children in family and society? How are traditional concepts of childhood changing under the conditions of poverty, HIV/AIDS and violence? How are the ideas and ideals of childhood influenced by the Bible? What is the role of the Bible in child-education? Can children’s rights be established with help of the Bible? This volume of BiAS 17 is collecting the papers presented at the 2012 BiAS meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, with some additional contributions

‘Blood as the Seat of Life’: The Blood Paradox among Afro-Christians

The study is a response to the call for papers on African issues and it focuses on the theme of blood. The chapter seeks to answer the following questions: Why is blood, the sanctity of life, associated with defilement? How can the good and purity of life which blood symbolizes come out of impurities? How is the practice of blood manipulation represented in biblical texts? How can bodily refuse in this case blood be conceived as a symbol of purity, power and danger? How do readers of biblical texts understand the textual representations and interpretations of blood? Does each mode of blood manipulation rituals function as communicative symbols? Our response to these questions is threefold. First, we consider the sanctity of blood in relation to its purity and power. This is followed by an examination of danger beliefs associated with blood and lastly by an analysis of the sacred/taboo or purity/danger dichotomy within the context of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as of the Shona Afro-Christians