Mhande dance in kurova guva and mutoro rituals : an efficacious and symbolic enactment of Karanga epistemology.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
This thesis is an ethnography of mhande dance as a dynamic phenomenon that enunciates
Karanga belief and normative values that are enacted through performance of mhande dance
in its chief indigenous contexts: the kurova guva (settling the spirit of the dead) and the
mutoro (rain making) rituals. Approached from an emic perspective, the study draws data
from field research conducted between 2008 and 2010 among the rural Karanga of Shurugwi
District in Zimbabwe. This study is an explication of mhande dance which provides the
reader with cognitive understanding of the indigenous spiritual dance that embraces music,
dance and gestures. The dance features both symbolize and spiritualize Karanga culture.
Karanga scheme of reality (chivanhu) embodies two worlds: the natural and the supernatural
in which the natural is explained by the supernatural. The supernatural is the world of the
spirits with God (Mwari) being the Supreme Spirit. According to the Karanga, the deceased
become spirit beings that maintain the quality of life of their human nature. Thus the Karanga
spiritual world is populated with good and bad spirits where the good are referred to as
ancestors (vadzimu) and the bad are identified differently; for example, sorcerers (varoyi) ,
alien (mashavi) and avenging spirits (ngozi). The Karanga believe in God who they venerate
through their ancestors. Ancestors are empowered to overcome bad spirits and hence their
siblings appease them in order that the spirits assist the humans to deal with challenges of life
for which the natural world provides no solution. Karanga reality of the existence of spiritual
beings is made to be a part of everyday life through the conduct of spiritual ritual ceremonies:
kurova guva and mutoro wherein the performance of mhande dance occasions spirit
possession. Thus, through its efficacious and symbolic features, mhande dance is experienced reality of Karanga epistemology (chikaranga).
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.
Keywords
Karanga (African people)--Music., Ethnomusicology--Africa., Dance--Africa., Knowledge, Theory of--Africa., Theses--Music.