Abstract
This article aims to contest the distortions and misrepresentations in the earlier writings of western scholars on the indigenous cultural practices of indigenous African language groups. The focus area will be Vhavenda communities around the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province of South Africa. This is the territory which was encroached by the various western missionary societies from as early as 1863. By 1940, most notable missionaries were almost well established in Venda. By the beginning of the 20th century, schools and hospitals also began to mushroom around Venda due to this missionary enterprise. Through interrogation of the various available sources; previous literature, our findings from participatory observations and the open-ended (sometimes-convergent) interviews and discussions, this article explores a number of the nomenclature and cliches that arose out of this missionary and ethnographic enterprise. The primary objective is to redress the resultant distortions of the information; with the objective of repositioning the distorted facts. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1201
Highlights
Contemporary studies have revealed a plethora of distortions and misrepresentations in the meanings, functions and performance contexts of some of the South African indigenous cultural practices
This article will confine its discussion on the indigenous cultural practices of Vhavenda communities around the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province in South Africa
By the beginning of the 20th century, schools and hospitals began to mushroom around Venda due to this missionary enterprise
Summary
Contemporary studies have revealed a plethora of distortions and misrepresentations in the meanings, functions and performance contexts of some of the South African indigenous cultural practices This is evident in research that was done primarily by western missionaries as well as the ethnographers that came with and after them mainly to conduct research on the history, cultures and traditions of the indigenous communities of South Africa. This is the territorywhich European missionaries encroached on a large scale from as early as 1863. Music patronage was mainly under the Christian churches during this period (Mugovhani, 2007)
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