CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGIES AND METHODS
4.5 Research methods
4.5.2 Participant Observation
Based on the strengths of ethnography, highlighted in the preceding section, I went on to employ participant observation which also became the main data gathering method for this study. As stated in the previous section, participant observation as part of ethnography was undertaken over a period of one year, starting from October 2017 to October 2018. Participant observation encourages researchers to actively participate in the everyday activities of the researched community, simultaneously recording crucial events. Here, I aimed at understanding social action in a naturalistic environment without imposing social reality on them. I was therefore able to immerse in the everyday life of the Tokwe Mukosi people over an extended period of time.
The rational was to obtain a holistic picture of the political nature of the forced relocations, how the respondents’ livelihoods, local institutions and social networks were affected. The other reason was to look at how the respondents modified and created new social networks and social institutions to deal with adversities in the new context.
It should also be underscored that participant observation is very effective when studying rural and often marginalized communities like the Tokwe Mukosi community. This is linked to the philosophy that such communities have relatively homogeneous populations. In these communities, the rate of mobility is low compared to urban communities (Grankil 1974). It follows that such data gathering techniques are customized for small scale communities like the Tokwe Mukosi community in Mwenezi. This therefore makes participant observation critical in understanding the physical, political, socio-cultural and economic aspects of such rural communities. In this study I wanted to appreciate what the Tokwe Mukosi people do, with whom and the frequency of such actions.
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In addition to the above, it must be stressed that participant observation is also useful when little is known (qualitatively) on the subject under investigation, like the Tokwe Mukosi people who continue to survive on the margins of society. Furthermore, it is important when the differences between those on the margins and the outsiders, implying a situation whereby their experiences are obscured from what the outside actors perceive. My experience in the field reveals that the Tokwe Mukosi people and their plight are hidden from what people outside this particular community know. These people have fallen under the category of the forgotten people. Given this context, participatory methods become instrumental in empathizing with such people.
Centered on participant observation, I was able to describe what was happening, where and when it occurred from the victims’ lifeworlds. Based on the emic approach and with the assistance of my student research assistants, I was able to participate in the daily activities of the researched. I also participated in the many community gatherings and social events to meet the outlined objectives of participant observation. Many of these gatherings were political gatherings. This is because my research coincided with the 2018 general elections in Zimbabwe. The majority of these gatherings were ZANU PF gatherings and this resonated well with the fact that the area under study is a ZANU PF stronghold. A few gatherings for the opposition parties were nevertheless attended by the researcher. Other gatherings included religious gatherings, funerals and the donor community gatherings. I also participated and observed behaviors during the local beer drinking parties, which are very common in the summer season in the Zimbabwean rural communities. More importantly, I participated in the local informal markets which were done at the end of every month. These markets are popularly known as BACOSSI in Zimbabwe, and this means the Basic Commodities Supply Side Intervention. It is a term that was borrowed from the central government policy that ensures cheap and affordable supply of basic commodities during the times of economic hardships for the poor. For the Tokwe Mukosi people, it implied a market where they can access all basic requirements at affordable prices.
Again, in line with the dictates of participant observation, I participated and observed interactions in three distinct funerals among the displaced Tokwe Mukosi people. The first one was conducted near Bongo business center in July 2018. The second one, which was more elaborate, took place at Nyuni village in November the same year. Lastly, I participated at a
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funeral that was conducted at Ngundu Shopping center. This shopping center is located in the matongo area. It is interesting to note that a bus belonging to Nyaradzo funeral services was sent to Chingwizi to ferry the displacees to attend this funeral. It shall be indicated that this was one of the significant social arrangements in place to maintain ties with the kinsmen in the matongo area. Participating in these social events helped the researcher to determine the place and significance of informal burial societies vis-à-vis private local institutions like Nyaradzo funeral services in a comparative way.
I also participated at local events like humwe, this is a local and civic institution created to provide labor for households in a collective and reciprocal way. (I will dwell on the importance of this local institution for survival in chapter seven of this thesis). Lastly, I attended and observed proceedings at the general meeting of one of the biggest Village Loan and servings (VLS) programme at Chingwizi. Overall, the participation in these types of gatherings helped the researcher to understand rural economies and the livelihood strategies deployed by the villagers, at the same time observing various forms of informal networks for survival.
Outside the Chingwizi area, I also attended and participated in the commissioning ceremony for the Tokwe Mukosi dam in 2017. The official commissioning was superintended by the then president of Zimbabwe R, G Mugabe. It was also attended by many ministers and officials from many government departments as well as traditional leaders. Many displaced Tokwe Mukosi villagers were also bused to grace this ceremony. This presented an opportunity to identify and understand the different life-worlds in the conceptualization and meaning of development between the state and displaced communities from remote areas in Chingwizi.
As we participated in the daily life of the researched together with my research assistants, we were able to take field notes. We deliberately made careful and objective notes, whilst recording key events and observations. While participant observation presents challenges in creating rapport, rapport with the researched in this case was easy to create because a significant number of respondents were known to the researcher and the researcher was known by the respondents based on the same historical connection. Many of my research participants were originally from
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Mushawasha and Chivi, which is also my rural home. This helped me to such an extent that while we were in the field, reference was continuously made to that historical connection, and this partly made the researcher an insider in the whole research process. While I shared a lot with the community under investigation, as a participant observer, I made an effort to learn the experiences of my subjects while maintaining the outsider label. In this interactive process, we were also able to take photos of social situations that we thought could help to further illuminate the issues under investigation.
By taking an insider approach, I clearly followed what Muzvidziwa (2004) terms ‘doing Anthropology at home’ and this proved to be very useful in gathering data in a very flexible way.
Of note is the fact that sometimes it was very difficult to draw a line between the actual research and social life during my stay in Zimbabwe in that particular year of research. Many of my social encounters both in Chivi and Masvingo urban would be turned into very useful research settings.
An interesting case is when I visited Maringire shopping center during the Christmas holiday as per tradition. (In my culture, one is expected to visit their rural home every festive season). As we were having drinks in the company of my brothers, two gentlemen approached and greeted us in a jovial mood. They were then introduced to me as vana Sekuru (uncles) from Zifunzi who were displaced to Chingwizi following the flood disaster. Based on reflexivity, the situation was turned into a research context, albeit in a highly informal way. These two relatives eventually became very important in my subsequent stay at Chingwizi.
Another interesting context that points to the efficacy of being a resident researcher was a funeral that I attended at Gororo near Ngundu Growth point. A workmate in the department of Sociology and Social Anthropology from that particular area lost his father. As per the cultural expectations and the spirit of Ubuntu/Hunhu, I had to attend that funeral in the company of other members from the department. It turned out that the Gororo area is part of the Matongo for the Chingwizi people. Again, as part of the cultural expectations, many of these displacees attended the funeral.
Such contexts, despite the fact that they fell outside conventional research, would undoubtedly offer the researcher some insights into the lives of the displaced Tokwe Mukosi people. This is because many conversations pertaining to how they are ‘getting by’ or going ahead at Chingwizi would naturally occur.
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