And the bones come together: Women's religious expectations in southern Africa, c. 1900-1945

Journal of Religious History

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 108-127

  Moss, Barbara A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33747082696     PISSN: 00224227     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9809.00076     Document Type: Article

References (112)

1. Mrs Edith Maranke, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church (1941): 164-6.
2. Runvadzano was the Shona term for women's prayer unions. It means "state of being in harmony." The organization spread to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1920s where it is known as Rukwadzano Rwe Wadzimai (Fellowship of Women). In this article, I have used the term ruwadzano to apply to both organizations unless the reference pertains to one of the organizations exclusively.
3. Some researchers, such as B. G. M, Sundkler in Zulu Zion and Some Swazi Zionists (London: Oxford University Press, 1976), 34, suggested that the Christian church was a women's movement due to the numerical superiority of women within the churches. In 1945 the Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church estimated that women comprised 57 per cent of the congregation, men 7 per cent and children 36 per cent.
4. Recent works on African women in religious organizations include Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton, Women of Fire and Spirit: History, Faith, and Gender in Roho Religion in Western Kenya (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996);
5. Paul Stuart Landau, The Realm of the Word: Language, Gender, and Christianity in a Southern African Kingdom (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1995);
6. Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro, eds, The Will To Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1992);
7. Denise Ackermann, et al., eds, Women Hold Up Half the Sky: Women in the Church in Southern Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1991);
8. and Jean Comaroff, Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: The Culture and History of a South African People (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1985).
9. Manyano is the southern African term for the women's prayer union. Manyano was believed to have derived from ukumanyai, a Xhosa word which means to join or unite. See Mia Brandel-Syrier, Black Woman in Search of God (London: Lutterworth Press, 1962), 15.
10. B. A. Pauw, Christianity and the Xhosa Tradition: Belief and Ritual Among Xhosa-Speaking Christians (London: Oxford University Press, 1975);
11. Marshall W. Murphree, Christianity and the Shona (New York: Humanities Press, 1969);
12. J. A. Dachs, Christianity South of the Zambezi (Gweru: Mambo Press, 1973);
13. Terri Barnes and Everjoyce Win, To Live a Better Life (Harare: Baobab Books, 1992);
14. Elizabeth Schmidt, Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939 (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1992);
15. Thomas D. Blakeley, W. E. A. van Beek, and Dennis L. Thomson, eds, Religion in Africa (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1994);
16. Adrian Hastings, The Church in Africa, 1450-1950 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994);
17. Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa (New Jersey: African World Press, 1995);
18. Terence Ranger, "Are We Not Also Men?" The Samkange Family and African Politics in Zimbabwe, 1920-64 (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1995);.
19. Timothy Burke, Life Buoy Men, Lux Women: Commodification, Consumption, and Cleanliness in Modern Zimbabwe (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996).
20. Ranger, "Are We Not Also Men?"
21. Schmidt, chap. 2.
22. Barbara A. Moss, "African Women's Legacy: Ambiguity, Autonomy, and Empowerment" in Black Women in America, ed. Kim Marie Vaz (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995), 19.
23. Moss, 24.
24. M. Douglas, ed., Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations (London: Tavistock, 1970), xxix.
25. Ndabaningi Sithole, Obed Mutezo: The Mudzimu Christian Nationalist (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), 51-2.
26. Joan May, Zimbabwean Women in Customary and Colonial Law (Gweru: Mambo Press, 1983), 30.
27. Ivan Karp, "Power and Capacity in Rituals of Possessions," in Creativity of Power: Cosmology and Action in African Societies, ed. W. Arens and Ivan Karp (Washington; Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 105.
28. See Sheila Meintjes, "Family and Gender in the Christian Community at Edendale, Natal, in Colonial Times," in Women and Gender in South Africa, ed. Cherryl Walker (London: James Currey, 1990), 126.
29. Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 69.
30. Rev. W. J. Noble to Miss Bradford, 17 December 1929, Methodist Missionary Society Archives, Box 1048, School of Oriental and African Studies, London (hereafter cited as MMSA).
31. Mary Smallwood to Hilda M. Bradford, 25 January 1930, MMSA, Box 1052.
32. Mary Smallwood, Nengubo. to H. M. Bradford, 22 January 1922, MMSA, Box 1052.
33. Mary Smallwood to H. M. Bardford, 29 January 1928, MMSA, Box 1052.
34. Mary Smallwood to Hilda Bradford, 31 October 1929, 3 July 1930, MMSA, Box 1052.
35. Rev. P. W. Searle to Rev. W. J. Noble, 16 February 1931, MMSA, Box 829.
36. Winifred Phillips, Epworth, to Miss Walton, 9 March 1941, MMSA, Box 1047.
37. Mary Smallwood to H. Bradford, 26 January 1931. MMSA, Box 1052.
38. Rev. J. White to Mrs Bradford, 30 April 1918, MMSA, Box 1052.
39. John R. Gates, District Superintendent, Uratali, East Central Africa Mission Conference, Minutes of the East Central Africa Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1911).
40. Helen Springer, Snapshot from Sunny Africa (New York: The Katanga Press, 1909), 33.
41. Rose Blennerhassett and Lucy Sleeman, Adventures in Mashonaland by Two Hospital Nurses (London, 1893), 151-4.
42. Blennerhassett and Sleeman, 244.
43. Mrs Richards' report, East Central Africa Mission Conference, Minutes of the East Centra! Africa Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (November 1907).
44. East Central Africa Mission Conference, Minutes of the East Central Africa Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1909), 60.
45. Terence O. Ranger, "Protestant Missions in Africa: The Dialectic of Conversion in the American Methodist Episcopal Church in Eastern Zimbabwe, 1900-1950," in Religion in Africa, éd. Blakeley et al. (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1994), 279.
46. Springer, 87.
47. M. F. C. Bourdillon, "Traditional Religion in Shona Society," in Christianity South of the Zambezi, ed. Anthony J. Dach (Gwelo: Mambo Press, 1973).
48. Ranger, "Protestant Missions," 280.
49. Fanne O. Quinton, Fairfield Girls' School, Old Umtali, Rhodesia Mission Conference, Official Journal, Minutes of the Rhodesia Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1917), 47.
50. Springer, 152.
51. Rev. Latimer P. Hardaker, Epworth Circuit Report 1921, MMSA, Box 349.
52. Ruwadzano/Manyano History Committee, R. Matanga, Gweru Jr. College, B. 9055, Gweru, 1987; Mrs Carter, The Story of the Ruwadzano-Manyano Movement 1891 to 1973 (n.p.: April 1973).
53. Norman E. Thomas, "Functions of Religious Institutions in the Adjustment of African Women to Life in a Rhodesia Township," in Focus on Cities: Proceedings of a Conference Organized by the Institute for Social Research, at the University of Natal, Durban, 8th-12th July 1968 (Durban: Institute for Social Research, University of Natal, 1970), 287-8.
54. Professor Stanlake Samkange, interview, Harare, Zimbabwe, 13 October 1987.
55. Iris Berger, Religion and Resistance East African Kingdoms in the Precolonial Period, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Annales Belgiques, serie in-8, Sciences Humaines 105 (1981): 46.
56. Rev. L Hardaker to Miss Bradford, 3/4//24, MMSA, Box 1052.
57. G. C. Oosthuizen, Afro-Christian Religions (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979), 16.
58. David Lan, Guns and Rain: Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985), 41.
59. Oosthuizen, 16-17.
60. For a full discussion, see Anita Jacobson-Widding, Red-White-Black as a Mode of Thought: A Study of Triadic Classification by Colours in the Ritual Symbolism and Cognitive Thought of the Peoples of the Lower Congo (Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1979).
61. Rev. Latimer P. Hardaker to Miss Bradford, Secretary, Women's Auxiliary, 4 March 1924, MMSA, Box 1052.
62. Mrs H. M. Hardaker, Report of the Ruwadzano (Women's Prayer Union) for Mashonaland 1924, MMSA, Box 1257.
63. Nengubo Circuit Report, 1925, MMSA, Box 1257.
64. Rev. Latimer P. Hardaker to Miss Bradford, 4 March 1924, MMSA, Box 1052.
65. Epworth Circuit Annual Report, 1925.
66. Women's' Department Committee to Frank Noble, Rhodesia District Missionaries Meeting. 24 November 1927, MMSA, Box 1052.
67. Muriel Pratten to Miss Bradford, 5 February 1928, MMSA, Box 1052.
68. Southern Rhodesia District Ruwadzano-Manyano, Rules and Constitution, MET 1/4/2/ National Archives of Zimbabwe (hereafter cited as NAZ).
69. Rev. Herbert Carter to Rev. Moses Mfazi, 23 December 1927, MMSA, Box 828.
70. Mrs Rudo Kapenzi, interview, Old Mutare Mission, 5 November 1987, 31 March 1988
71. Mrs Mapondera, inten'iew, Harare, 18 March 1988.
72. H. I. James, superintendent, Mrewa, Rhodesia Annual Conference, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1939), 315.
73. Muriel Pratten, Annual Report. Girls and Women's Work at Epworth, 1928, MMSA, Box 1258.
74. H. M. Hardaker, Report of the Ruwadzano for Mashonaland 1924, MMSA, Box 1257;
75. Dorothy Teare, Women's Work Report 1940, MMSA, Box 1034.
76. Sister Muriel Pratten, Work Among Women and Girls, Epworth Circuit, 1941, MMSA, Box 1034.
77. Rev. N. Mumbiro, inten'iew, St Peter's United Methodist Church, Mutare, 10 March 1988.
78. Rev. Frank Noble to Bradford, 21 January, 8 June 1928, MMSA, Box 1052.
79. Mary Musseil, Epworth Mission Circular Letter, 7 May 1932, MMSA, Box 1052.
80. "Historical Society," Shepard Machuma Files, Old Mutare Mission Archives.
81. Baku Rerumano Rwe Rukwadzano Rwevadzimai ve United Methodist Church. (Harare: Matimba Stationers, 1969). 9.
82. J. E. S. Turton, "Spirit Trees," NADA 14 (1936-7), 33-4
83. and T. O. Ranger, "Taking Hold of the Land: Holy Places and Pilgrimages in Twentieth-Century Zimbabwe," Past and Present 117 (November 1987).
84. Ranger, "Taking Hold of the Land," 168-9.
85. Mrs Dikanifiiwa, Mrs Jijita, Mrs Mandisodza, Mrs Chigubu, Mrs Mujoma, and Mrs Mudzengerere, interview, United Methodist Women's Center, Harare, 7 November 1987.
86. Report of the Committee on State of the Church, Rhodesia Mission Conference, Official Journal: Minutes of the Rhodesia Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church ( 1928).
87. Dikanifiiwa et al., interview.
88. Report of the Committee on the State of the Church, Rhodesia Annual Conference, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1937).
89. Ian Phimister, "Zimbabwe: The Path of Capitalist Development," in History of Central Africa, vol. 2, ed. David Birmingham and Phyllis M. Martin (New York: Longman. 1983), 273-4.
90. Phimister, 277-8.
91. G. M. Masterson, "Memories of a Native Commissioner's Wife," NADA, 11(4): 399 (1977).
92. Private Secretary, Premier's Office to Chief Native Commissioner, 16 September 1939, S235/430, NAZ.
93. Rev. H. Carter to Rev. W. J. Noble, 7, 16 February 1942, MMSA, Box 836.
94. Jeannette R. Folta and Edith S. Deck, "The Impact of Children's Death on Shona Mothers and Families," Journal of Comparative Family Studies 19 (1988): 449.
95. May, 82.
96. Rhodesia Annual Conference, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1944.
97. Dikanifuwa et al., interview.
98. Kapenzi, interview.
99. Rhodesia Annual Conference, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955.
100. Ruwadzano Report to Synod Minutes, December 1939, Methodist House, Harare (hereafter cited as MHH).
101. Mrs Sarah Munjoma, interview, Matendendze School, 29 March 1988.
102. Rev. Nhiwatiwa, interview, 10 March 1988.
103. Frank Noble to Miss Walton 1936, MMSA, Box 1049.
104. Wedza Circuit Quarterly Meeting Minutes, 5 October 1936, 30 November 1938, September 1946, MHH.
105. Committee on the State of the Church, Rhodesia Annual Conference, Official Journal of the Rhodesia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1941, 161.
106. Minutes of a Meeting of the District Superintendents of the Rhodesia Conference of the Methodist Church, Mrewa. 25 October 1944. Old Mutare Mission Archives.
107. Mrs T. H. Maranke, Southern Section, 13 May 1943.
108. D. Muriel Pratten, Epworth Circuit Woraens and Girls Work, 4 November 1942, MMSA, Box 1262.
109. D. Muriel Pratten, Bible Schools District Report, 1948, MMSA, Box 1264.
110. Muriel Pratten, Epworth Mission Circular Letter, November 1948, MMSA, Box 1298.
111. D. Muriel Pratten, Epworth Circuit Ruwadzano Report 1946. MMSA, Box 1263.
112. S. S. Carter, Ruwadzano/Manyano Report, 1946, MMSA, Box 1263.