Child development through Ndebele taboos: Motivation to blend the indigenous and the exotic

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dc.contributor.authorNdlovu, Sambulo
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-29T13:34:10Z
dc.date.available2020-10-29T13:34:10Z
dc.date.issued2020-08-01
dc.descriptionPeer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso, Volume 12 Number 1, Aug 2020, p. 36 - 55en_US
dc.description.abstractIn the context of this paper, child development is upbringing, incorporating the care, education and protection of children. The traditional Ndebele way of child upbringing ensures that the child develops responsibly and especially out of danger. This paper thus seeks to identify the gap between modernity and Ndebele taboos and suggests possible solutions to address the gap and apply taboos in modern societies such as urban settlements. The social, physical and environmental regulatory institutions of the Ndebele people have always relied on the supernatural for enforcement. This study seeks to demonstrate, using interviews and focus group discussions, how traditional Ndebele taboos need to be blended into the modern culture if they are to be relevant. The research is an interpretivist descriptive survey of Nkayi rural and Nkayi urban centre (in Zimbabwe) with the aim of getting parents and secondary school children’s views on Ndebele taboos and child development. The study established that there are some traditional concepts used in some Ndebele taboos which are no longer popular and children do not know them. It also established that there are some Ndebele taboos that have been overtaken by human rights discourses, while some are no longer compatible with modern institutions such as formal schooling and science. There are new taboos built to counter ills of modern society. The modern environment has modern dangers and problems that require a re-visiting of Ndebele taboos so that more modern taboos can be developed. The study demonstrates that blending the indigenous and the exotic (cultures) in taboo formulation and application ensures that today’s children benefit from taboos. The blending of indigenous and exotic cultures has already occurred in society and there is a need to align the modern culture to taboo tenets so that the taboos can be fully utilised for child development. The blending involves changing some metaphoric vehicles in some traditional Ndebele taboos to include concepts from modern culture, and in some cases there is a need to ‘de-taboo’ for child development. Conclusions of the study are important for policy makers in domains of child development and care such as pedagogy, social work, children’s rights and the family. The findings also imply connections between taboos and legal theories on rights and these can be explored furtheren_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.ajol.info/index.php/ijhss/article/view/199515
dc.identifier.citationNdlovu, S., 2020. Child development through Ndebele taboos: Motivation to blend the indigenous and the exotic. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 12(1), pp.36-55.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2077-2815
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10530/2010
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Zululanden_US
dc.subjectTaboos,en_US
dc.subjectchild developmenten_US
dc.subjectNdebele people (Zimbabwe)en_US
dc.subjectmodernity, indigenousen_US
dc.subjectknowledge, Ndebele cultureen_US
dc.titleChild development through Ndebele taboos: Motivation to blend the indigenous and the exoticen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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