Inkanyiso: Journal of African Thought

Indigenous knowledge and the adoption of vaginal practices among rural women: Insight from Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe

Linderrose Dube — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The study of vaginal practices in Africa has predominantly been through the Western hegemonic biomedical lens to ascertain their impact on women’s health. This article is extracted from an ethnographic study on vaginal practices in the rural village of Tshitatshawa in the Tsholotsho district in Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach in data collection was adopted with the use of qualitative research methods, which include in-depth interviews, partial observations and key participant interviews. A total of 23 female and 20 male participants were selected to participate in the study using snowball sampling. Thematic and content analysis were used as qualitative data analysis methods, together with ATLAS.ti as a scientific data analysis method. The study explored vaginal practices as indigenous knowledge (IK) with its foremost goal to improve the lives of women. Vaginal practices are IK that is embedded in culture. It examines the influence of IK on women’s adoption and use of vaginal practices for their health and wellness. This article tackles the preponderant view that positions vaginal practices as primitive. This article argues that vaginal practices are part of IK that is used to mitigate different challenges that women face in traditional societies and ought to be understood and preserved as such. The motives for the use of vaginal practices are driven by the need to meet cultural and social expectations of womanhood embedded in local IK. The study concludes that the use of vaginal practices provides more benefits than harm. In addition, the study shows that there is much more to the use of vaginal practices than for commonly perceived sexual reasons; vaginal practices are important IK used for women’s health and wellness.

Contribution: The study contributes to the decoloniality discourse, and it highlights the role of coloniality in the production and control of knowledge. It argues for the need to decolonise knowledge systems and centres of knowledge, which tend to disregard the importance of IK.

Sonic selves, ancestral archives: Identity, language and cultural memory in amaXhosa sacred practice

Vuyelwa O. Moyo, Boudina McConnachie — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Among the amaXhosa of South Africa’s Eastern Cape, knowledge lives less in texts than in bodies, voices and sacred landscapes. In Hamburg, at the mouth of the Keiskamma River, knowledge of the ocean, river, forest and healing plants is transmitted in isiXhosa through song, carried by elders whose authority rests on accountability to the ancestors rather than institutional credentials. This article examines how amaXhosa sacred spaces function as living archives where language, music and cosmology converge to form identity, sustain memory and enact healing. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Hamburg (2022–2024): (1) semistructured interviews with 30 community members (25 analysed), (2) participant observation and (3) cultural immersion. Narratives were examined ecomusicologically through narrative
analysis and ritual and folklore songs, framed by literature on African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, decolonial methodology, memory studies and sonic epistemologies. Findings show that the river, coast and grove known as Nyulutsi operate as active archives; that identity formation is inseparable from sonic performance, making the politics of language inseparable from the politics of sound; that songs, chants and clan-call protocols form an irreplaceable but
generationally strained transmission system; and that healing, memory and resilience are enacted sonically and remain place-bound. The article proposes the Sonic Living Archive as a theoretical contribution, arguing that decolonising knowledge requires recognising sonic and oral forms of knowing as legitimate archives.

Contribution: The article shows how amaXosa sacred sonic practices offer epistemological and pedagogical frameworks for re-centring African knowledge in research and teaching, contributing to debates on higher education transformation.

An Ubuntu-informed exploration of cyberbullying experiences among students at a university in the Eastern Cape

Mqokeleli Zaza, Mahlodi M.R. Makupula — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cyberbullying has become an increasing concern within higher education, particularly since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, when university students began extensively utilising digital communication platforms for both academic and social interaction. This study examines students’ experiences of cyberbullying at a university in the Eastern Cape through the lens of Ubuntu [I am because we are]. Ubuntu emphasises human interconnectedness, harmony, respect and moral responsibility among individuals. A qualitative research design was employed to gain an in-depth understanding of students’ experiences of cyberbullying. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 15 participants who had experience of cyberbullying. Data were collected through three focus group discussions, each comprising five participants. Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Three key findings emerged from the analysis: (1) participants reported various forms of harassment, including public humiliation, threats and the spread of private information, which resulted in anxiety, social retreat and academic disengagement, (2) to cope with harassment, participants utilised strategies such as blocking bullies, deactivating social media accounts and seeking peer support and (3) participants suggested Ubuntu-informed restorative initiatives such as perpetrator education and awareness campaigns rather than solely punitive measures.

Contribution: The study contributes to emerging decolonial scholarship on cyberbullying within South African higher institutions. It demonstrates how an Ubuntu-informed framework offers a culturally relevant lens for understanding online harm, students’ coping strategies and institutional responses to cyberbullying in higher education.

Decolonising from below: Africanisation, student voice, and epistemic justice in South African technical and vocational education and training

Ezekiel Majola, Deidre Geduld, Heloise Sathorar — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Amid intensifying calls to decolonise education in South Africa, this article advances a theoretically grounded model of ‘decolonising from below’ – an approach that foregrounds student voice as both a site and a method of epistemic justice in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Drawing on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy and African decolonial thought, the study conceptualises Africanisation as the epistemic re-centring of African worldviews, languages, and values, and decolonisation as the structural dismantling of colonial hierarchies in knowledge and pedagogy. Using qualitative data from Learning Cycle Groups or dialogical spaces in which 15 isiXhosa-speaking TVET students collectively interrogated curriculum, language, and institutional culture, the article analyses how students theorise transformation from their lived realities. The findings reveal that students positioned as epistemic agents reframe vocational education beyond employability, envisioning it instead as a relational and ethical practice grounded in Ubuntu and collective self-determination.

Contribution: The article contributes a conceptual model of Africanisation from below, which integrates Freirean praxis with African humanist philosophy, offering both a methodological and a theoretical advance for decolonial research in vocational education.

Ra mufi ari tluriwi: Is the tradition of honouring a person’s final wishes still upheld in the context of a changing South African society?

Magezi E. Baloyi, Hasani P. Shikolokolo — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In an African context, the concept of death inspires discussions about rituals and ways of remembering the departed, with the latter being influenced largely by how they lived, including what they loved and spoke about. The prevalence of the saying ra mufi ari tluriwi among some South African black communities, like the Vatsonga and Vhavenda, is often received with mixed expressions and feelings, in which the bereaved family are often confronted with a difficult choice between doing and not doing what is requested by the deceased. As much as this saying conveys the respect held by the living for the wishes and the instructions expressed by the deceased prior to their departure, it also raises issues of the feasibility and acceptability of what is being claimed to have been the deceased’s proposal or plan. It becomes more debatable if it is about the funeral and the possessions the deceased left behind, especially if the plan or words of the deceased are not written as was the tradition in the African context. The wishes of the deceased may be about how his or her burial should be conducted and arranged or about what he or she leaves behind in the form of inheritance. Recalling what the deceased said or proposed becomes more subjective, and the engagement about that may prolong or even disrupt the funeral arrangements, depending on the contestations of the veracity of the raised matter. This article intends to find out if the practice of honouring and respecting the wishes of deceased people is relevant and valid within contemporary society prior to and after their funerals. The study will adopt structured interviews with the cultural representatives in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.

Contribution: The research reported in this article was carried out with the intention of an unbiased examination of the circumstances relating to the carrying out of the wishes of the deceased.

Women’s utilisation of indigenous fruits for food security and nutrition among the Varemba in Mberengwa District, Zimbabwe

Silindiwe Zvingowanisei, Anniegrace M. Hlatywayo — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores women’s utilisation of indigenous fruits for food security and nutrition in Zimbabwe, using the Varemba in the Mberengwa district as a case study. Food insecurity is one of the causes of conflict and disharmony in marriages and families in Zimbabwe. The United States’ Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development acknowledges the role that enhancing rural livelihoods, nutrition and food security plays in managing conflict. The data were collected from an empirical study which was conducted in the Mberengwa district in Zimbabwe. The research participants were purposively sampled. A qualitative research methodology was adopted where data were solicited from the Varemba women who utilise various indigenous fruits to ensure household food and nutrition security to resolve conflicts. The article foregrounds the pivotal role played by Varemba women in alleviating hunger by meeting the food and nutrition needs of their families through utilising indigenous fruits. Furthermore, the research findings reflect that the Varemba women do not merely use indigenous fruits as a source of food, but instead, these fruits are used as a symbol of peace, a mediation tool and as an economic buffer. The article, therefore, argues that by utilising indigenous fruits, Varemba women succeed in ensuring household food security and nutrition, hunger and poverty alleviation (SDGs 1 and 2) and resolving related marital conflicts within their families and societies. The study reflects how Varemba women transition from implicitly using indigenous fruits for survival or as a source of food to explicitly leveraging them as mediation, economic and food security tools.

Contribution: This study contributed to SDG1 (Zero Poverty) and SDG2 (Zero Hunger) by indicating how Varemba women utilise indigenous fruits to improve food security and reduce household poverty. The study reflects how food security mitigates marital conflicts and creates harmonious families.

Reimagining teacher education for inclusive education in Southern Africa: Ubuntu perspective

Ben de Souza — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Countries in Southern Africa have taken efforts to implement inclusive education. While policies exist and some efforts are made around inclusion in schools, limited attention has been given to the work required of teachers to actualise inclusivity. What is missing are mechanisms that can enable teacher education to develop inclusive pedagogical proficiency in future teachers. This study reimagined teacher education for inclusive education in Southern Africa through Ubuntu philosophy that positions disability as the moral and analytical basis of inclusivity. A qualitative conceptual-policy analysis approach was used to analyse the regional Policy Framework on Care and Support for Teaching and Learning. The analysis was theoretically guided by critical disability perspectives and Ubuntu relational ethics. The analysis showed that disability is framed in the policy framework as intersecting with multiple forms of vulnerability, and that inclusivity is conceptualised as a multisectoral agenda. However, the policy framework under-theorises teacher education for ethical decision-making, reflexivity and collaborative practice in crisis-affected contexts. This article argues that reforming teacher education to support inclusive education requires more than policy adherence. It also requires educating relational and reflexive teachers grounded in Ubuntu ethics by strengthening disability inclusivity as the foundation for such transformation.

Contribution: The Ubuntu framework has been primarily applied in school research. There is limited application of this framework in teacher education research. This creates a lacuna in understanding how school teachers are expected to practise Ubuntu, yet their training has not adequately prepared them. Therefore, this study applies the Ubuntu framework to teacher education by linking disability, inclusive education and Ubuntu ethics to offer insights that can inform debates on teacher education development in Southern Africa.

Indigenous knowledge systems-based drought coping strategies and mechanisms of the Ndau people of Chipinge District, Zimbabwe

Anniegrace M. Hlatywayo — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Drought is a common phenomenon that affects more people within the context of Africa than any other disaster. Likewise, drought is an extreme and common occurrence within the lowland areas of Chipinge district in Zimbabwe. Whilst responses to drought tend to focus on scientific investigations, of late, there has been growing awareness of the importance of adopting indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) as mitigation strategies. Through qualitative research utilising semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and document analysis, this study sought to highlight the efficacy of indigenous knowledge as a sustainable and valuable resource that can be harnessed by indigenous communities for managing drought. A sample of 20 participants was recruited, seven participants through purposive sampling and 13 via snowball sampling. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study was underpinned by the community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) framework. Research findings indicated reliance on IKS-based meteorological indicators for drought forecasting. Drought-coping strategies, inclusive of rainmaking ceremonies, the practice of kuparira (dry planting), intercropping, dry food preservation and the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops were identified.

Contribution: The study advocates for the integration of these IKS as tailored, sustainable strategies for drought management. Therefore, policymakers should formally integrate IKS into national drought management frameworks by establishing community-based platforms where local elders and experts can collaborate with meteorological services, and by adapting agricultural extension programs to promote proven indigenous strategies.

A Southern African-centred account of mental disorder

Nhlakanipho Hlengwa — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this article, the author propose and argue for a Southern African-centred account of mental disorder that defines this mental condition in both evaluative and causal terms. It argues that mental illness must be understood through value judgements and primary causal factors. According to this account, for a condition to qualify as a mental disorder, it must meet three individually necessary and together sufficient criteria: (1) it must affect the mental state of an individual (beyond normal emotional responses), (2) it must be evaluated negatively by both an individual and the community and (3) there must be an identifiable non-physical cause(s).

Contribution: This article proposes a Southern African account of mental disorder, understood as a pathological condition, that differs from existing theories of disease, namely naturalism, normativism and hybridism in the philosophy of medicine. It draws on the cultural perspective of amafufunyana within the Southern African context and explores the implications of this account for consultation practice.

Collaborative synergy: Community-based research as a catalyst for enhancing community wellbeing in Kwazulu-Natal

Angeline S. Ngcobo, Ernest N. Khalema, Hosea O. Patrick — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores how community-based research (CBR) can serve as a transformative and collaborative method for addressing community challenges, poverty, and exclusion in KwaZulu-Natal. Over 30 years have passed since South Africa achieved freedom, during which the government has funded numerous CBR projects to understand community needs and address power disparities to enhance community well-being. Despite these efforts, living conditions in many communities have deteriorated because of rising poverty, unemployment and exclusion. Consequently, we adopted a social justice and emancipation approach, guided by critical theory, to empower marginalised groups and improve their well-being. The study employed qualitative research methods, including in-depth semi-structured interviews with five senior government officials who fund CBR, 10 senior researchers specialising in CBR, and two focus group discussions with community members and leaders. Additionally, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to gain significant insights from researchers, community members and government officials. The findings reveal that whilst CBR holds substantial potential for addressing complex social issues in KwaZulu-Natal, its effectiveness is hindered by challenges related to power dynamics, resource limitations and community exclusion.

Contribution: This article proposes a framework to address challenges associated with interventions, project implementation, discrimination and community capacity-building. This framework aims to enhance community knowledge and equip them to tackle their challenges and improve their well-being. Furthermore, we advocate for a shift from a top-down approach to participatory strategies that enable communities to articulate their needs and co-create knowledge for sustainable solutions.

Masivuse umsamo – Let us rebuild the altar: Recreating the home as the centre of worship and a communal redefinition of family values

Sifiso Khuzwayo, Wessel Bentley — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The erosion of the term ‘Father’ from societal vocabulary reflects a deeper social and spiritual crisis in African communities. This article examines how Christianity and colonialism disrupted African family structures and aims to propose pathways for their theological and cultural reconstruction. Using the See–Judge–Act methodology, this conceptual–theological study engages historical, cultural and theological analysis to trace how Christianity and colonialism redefined the African understanding of family, fatherhood and communal responsibility. It draws on isiZulu cosmology, the notion of umsamo [the family altar], and the ubuntu ethic of interdependence. The study finds that colonialism – through urbanisation, migrant labour and forced removals – and certain Western forms of Christianity displaced the home as the centre of worship, eroding the familial priesthood and the communal cohesion that once anchored African societies. Yet overlaps between African spirituality and Christianity offer possibilities for renewal, particularly through mentorship, collective fatherhood and shared moral formation.

Contribution: This study contributes to African theological discourse by firstly redefining ‘family’ as a community of shared responsibility rather than a nuclear unit. Secondly, proposing the re-centring of the home as a sacred site of worship and formation. Thirdly, advocating a theology of fatherhood grounded in ubuntu and communal ethics. It concludes that rebuilding the umsamo – literally and symbolically – can restore moral and spiritual wholeness in postcolonial African societies.

The transcendental sublime significance that Africanism has on freewill and determinism

Johan A. van Rooyen — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

According to many scientists and philosophers, the concept of ‘Freewill’ for Homo sapiens is largely considered non-existent due to the deterministic nature of sapiens’ brains, where every decision is influenced by a complex interplay of factors like genetics, environ, past experiences and neurochemistry (or as it is also described in theology: hermeneutics), all operating beyond our conscious control, essentially predetermining our choices. Perhaps the oldest question ever in philosophy has been the rhetoric betwixt freewill and/or determinism. Not just in Western philosophy, but also in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern parts of the World, examining the rational inquiries of the truths and principles of being of knowledge, in three philosophical entities, namely: natural philosophy, moral philosophy and metaphysical philosophy. However, the greatest piece of the pie will go on in dealing with the African metaphysical scrutiny in trying to obtain a tenacity by obtaining a reciprocal vernacular betwixt the three.

Contribution: This phenomenon of African existence evolves into an ambiguity and/or haziness among the unanimity of this antithesis. This amenity and/or pleasantness and awe embody the notion that by being African sapiens must swing towards modernism – meaning that the higher the ability would be to pinpoint subjective determinisms of ownership to the fringe or the verge. Why? Because of the inevitability of the evolution of modernism within the African continent that must give way now to the individual. In the same disposition, there is a real obligation and wish for cognitive adjustment from untidy yet compelling fraternity to a joint ability to accommodate this extreme profound complexity

A theological reflection on garden weddings: Interrogating the Reformed liturgy within the African context

Ndidzulafhi Mudau — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study analyses the tension between the Reformed churches’ traditional emphasis on formal liturgical worship in church buildings and the increasing inclination towards outdoor or garden weddings in African Reformed contexts. The central question is whether outdoor settings may uphold Reformed theological tenets while authentically incorporating African cultural expressions. A contextual theological framework was developed to evaluate garden marriages in Reformed churches, analyse the suitability of outdoor environments with Reformed liturgical norms and provide guidelines that honour both traditions. The employed methodology, hermeneutical analysis, integrates Reformed interpretative traditions with African perspectives. Research was conducted using resources such as Journal Storage (JSTOR), EBSCOhost, Google Scholar and American Theological Library Association Serials (ATLAS), incorporating search terms relevant to Reformed liturgy, African worship, garden weddings, contextual theology and related subjects. Of the 47 identified sources, 38 met the inclusion criteria, prioritising peer-reviewed articles and academic monographs published between 2010 and 2025, with pre-2010 sources included only when foundational. The findings indicate that outdoor settings are not inherently theologically problematic when appropriate procedures enable genuine worship expression. Garden environments can elevate traditional African communal celebrations while preserving essential elements of Reformed covenant theology.

Contribution: The study recommends that African Reformed churches establish denominational standards for evaluating garden wedding venues, develop minimum liturgical prerequisites for outdoor ceremonies and engage in ongoing contextual theological exploration. This ensures that venue choices honour both Reformed confessional principles and authentic African cultural expressions, thereby enriching discussions on liturgical inculturation and postcolonial African Christianity

Gendered images of God in the Belhar Confession (1986)

Christina Landman1 — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Confession of Belhar was accepted as a formal confession of faith by the 1986 General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church at its meeting in Belhar, a then ‘Coloured township’ near the Cape Town International Airport in the deep southwest of South Africa. In 2026, the Belhar Confession celebrates 40 years of formal recognition. This article explores the images of God in the Confession of Belhar that have gender references. Introducing the topic, literature addressing these gendered images of God in the Belhar Confession will be discussed. This will be followed by the main part of the article, which analyses the relationship between God and gender in the Confession and will try to answer the question whether sexist references to God constitute reality for the confessor.

Contribution: Finally, the gendered references of God in Belhar will be compared to images of God in the following four documents: (1) the 1994/2005 Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa’s (URCSA’s) Policy on Gender Equity; (2) the Open Letter from the men of the URCSA to the Women of the URCSA in 2005; (3) the Constitution of the Christian Women’s Ministries of the URCSA; and (4) the Acts of the 2022 General Synod of URCSA, the latest Acts of an URCSA
General Synod available at the time of writing. This will be performed to determine whether a sensitivity towards gendered images of God has been established in URCSA documents during the 40 years since 1986, with special reference to the Confession of Belhar.

The politics of respect: Gendered address terms in the Vhavenḓa community

Muthuhadini L. Muavha — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gender-based violence remains prevalent in many communities, including the Vhavenḓa community, where language plays an important role in shaping social interaction and gender relations. This study explored how gendered Tshivenḓa address terms are interpreted and enacted, focusing on their role in negotiating respect, authority, social roles and relational responsibilities. The study was conducted in the Vhavenḓa community within Collins Chabane local municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo, South Africa. Guided by African feminist theory, the study adopted a qualitative case study design. Twenty participants were approached directly by the researcher and, where appropriate, referred by other participants and their recruitment criteria. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically. Findings showed that titles such as ‘vhamusanda’ and assertive male postures function as culturally recognised markers of status and authority. Conversely, gestures of deference, including kneeling, bowing, avoiding eye contact and lying on one’s side, communicate respect and acknowledge social hierarchies. Participants indicated that failure to observe these forms of address may be perceived as disrespectful. The use of teknonyms and honorifics such as ‘vho’ further reflects local understandings of gender, authority and relational responsibility. The article concludes that Tshivenḓa address terms are culturally significant practices through which social roles, hierarchies and gendered power dynamics are expressed and negotiated.

Contribution: The study contributes to scholarship on language and gender by demonstrating how indigenous address practices shape everyday negotiations of respect, authority and gendered power within the Vhavenḓa community.

Izinseka: African somatic epistemology and the neuroscience of bodily knowing

Thabani Khumalo — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

African thought has long held the body as a primary site of knowing. In Nguni-Zulu epistemology, izinseka names a class of somatic knowing spanning pre-cognitive reflexive response to another’s distress, cultivated empathic sensitivity of caregivers, and refined diagnostic insight of isangoma. Western psychology has typically approached such knowing
through a pathology frame, reading somatic presentations as failures of an assumed mind–body hierarchy. This article argues that izinseka is neither mystical nor merely phenomenological but epistemologically sovereign and physiologically grounded, and proposes it as a foundational concept for African psychology. The argument proceeds in
four movements: (1) formalising izinseka as an epistemological category, (2) tracing how the same phenomena were pathologised within Western clinical psychology, (3) presenting convergent neuroscientific evidence, including polyvagal theory and interoceptive processing, as corroboration rather than validation, and (4) examining the isangoma as a
case study of a trained somatic knower, towards a decolonial reframing of somatic symptom diagnosis. Clinicians and scholars are called to recognise somatic experience not as pathological conversion of psychological content into physical form, but as the body performing its oldest cognitive function with fidelity.

Contribution: African psychology has affirmed somatic knowing philosophically, while its physiological grounding has remained unarticulated. Drawing on Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis, Porges’ polyvagal theory, enteric nervous system research, mirror neuron studies, and predictive processing, the article shows that izinseka has clear physiological substrates: the gut–brain axis, insular interoceptive processing, and the autonomic social engagement system, whose architecture was identified by African thought before neuroscience formally described it. Ukuthwasa is reframed as neurophysiological training.

Erratum: Collaborative synergy: Community-based research as a catalyst for enhancing community wellbeing in KwaZulu-Natal

Angeline S. Ngcobo, Ernest N. Khalema, Hosea O. Patrick — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the published article, Collaborative synergy: Community-based research as a catalyst for enhancing community wellbeing in KwaZulu-Natal Inkanyiso 18(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/ink.v18i1.185, there was an error in the first author’s (Angeline S. Ngcobo) affiliation.
Instead of:
School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
It should be:
Department of Information & Corporate Management, Durban University of Technology
The publisher apologises for this error. The correction does not change the study’s findings of significance or overall interpretation of the study’s results or the scientific conclusions of the article in any way