Chapter 6 Chapter 6
1. THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND METHODS OF RESEARCH
1.4. Apparatus Descriptions
1.4.1. Tape Recorder
Lewis advises that researchers must follow what is going on around them, and must record with accuracy and subtlety. The recording must not disturb the flow and volunteering of information from willing interlocutors. As researchers we had to learn to use both electronic and manual research implements and facilities in a way that no one in the community should feel threatened or suspicious. I did most of the writing in my private time, as Dziva (1997:235) would advise, and used the tape recorder during discussions, as Lewis (1976: 24) advises.
Dziva (1997: 224) is also concerned about the depth of intrusion that researchers make in the communities they are investigating. He is also concerned about keeping a critical distance and acting together with the communities in all that they do. In the words ofLewis, ethnographers must 'mix' with the local people;
become the 'life and soul of the party' and seize the essence of the life around them. Ethnographers must identify with the community; must go to places, homes and functions; which I personally did. Lewis also advised that researchers ....
should choose a community whose present circumstances render them acutely interesting for theoretical reasons (Lewis: 1976: 25 - 26).
first transcribed scripts were in Pedi (Northern Sotho), since the majority of the interlocutors spoke Northern Sotho. The Northern Sotho scripts were then translated into English. We had two sessions of three months' length to interview, report back and discuss. The first and the second round tape-recorded information was contained in twenty eight cassettes.
The transcripts were read in their entirety several times so that I was immersed in the details of the stories related. Through listening to and appropriating this material, I found that there were conceptual, behavioral, cultural and educational gaps between myself, in particular, and the information gathered. I felt so much lacking and susceptible to Christian biases, which I had to look at critically. I tried either to suppress or avoid or expose these biases, if at all possible. I had to accept my biases as a way of realising that they were there, instead of trying to hide them.
We have been personally involved in all tape recording sessions and participated actively in performing our part in catalysing the discussions. But at times we left the discussions follow the topics which the interlocutors felt were important. All this data we listened to again and again, and tried to make sense of it. From listening to them we picked up unsaid nuances. We compared information from all the various group discussions for validation, verification and vindication through cross-checking.
Through the process of ethnographic research we learnt that this research was not supposed to be an imposition on the people. It was a learning process. According to Frostin (1988: 220) the researcher should not impose a modem thought pattern on the analyzed body of texts before rendering justice to its internal logic. In other words, we had to allow the interlocutors to expose their knowledge according to the time when it was conceived. In other words, the researcher must not come with a baggage of modem knowledge which is blindly imposed to traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge is authentic in its own right.
The oral information we gathered with the team, the reading I have done and the audio material we generated were the texts from which I needed to extract the ideas aboutMODIMO. More importantly, the internal logic I came to understand as I read is that, when speaking about deity in STR compared to deity in Christian religion, we (the interlocutors included) seemed to have spoken about two different phenomena.
The advice ofHarnmersley and Atkinson (1983: 137) was followed; that, through the process of analysis, ethnographers must gain familiarity with their data, must use the data to think with, must observe interesting patterns, look for the unusual, for contradictions and for inconsistencies.
1.4.2. The Use of the Camera
With the permission of individuals and groups, photographs were taken of relevant people, things and activities. I have photographs of Traditional Healers in action, offamilies performing traditional rituals, of the places where Ancestors reside, and of plants and animals representing Ancestors. These photographs are a record of where we have been, whom we met and what we saw and did.
1.5. Introduction of Research Teams
1.5.1. GaPhaahla Teachers Research Team (GTRT)
In a rural setting such as GaPhaahla the custodians of information, both traditional and modern, are the school teachers and elderly people. Among other people and groups who teach communities, such as parents, ministers of religion and so on, the teachers enjoy the most respect. School teachers are a significant group from whom to collect reliable information in rural settings. They are confident and articulate, and are respected by both the elderly and the young.
They are the most acceptable and trusted individuals. Thus it became imperative for me to organize teachers to help with this research.
In the GTRT team there were six female and two male teachers. All of them were born and bred at GaPhaahla, had studied and taught Northern Sotho and had been trained as teachers in the Northern Province. All were more than 40 years old. Three of the female teachers held Bachelor's degrees in Arts and one male teacher, an Honours degree in History. The other male teacher, was a community leader who officially connects this particular community of GaPhaahla with the local Chief, Phaahla, and is of the Chiefs own family -Mr.
AdamMaoto.
1.5.2. University of the North and Stotlberg Theological Seminary Research Team (UNSTSRT)
The second team of researchers was composed of post-graduate students of theology. These students were taking courses at the University of the North and at Stoflberg Theological Seminary. This team was selected from students who had done some research work on the issue of the concepts of MODI MO in Sotho Traditional Religion. Their research covered the Pedi [Northern Sotho] areas from Pietersburg up to Bolovedu. Together ,with their lecturer, Mr. Matome Rathethe, this group had produced work in this area of research. By virtue of being interested in the same field of knowledge, this was naturally a significant group to collaborate with.
We had group discussions with both the teachers and the theology students. I gave them my preliminary writings and the initial conclusions of my work. I gave them a brief to read my work, to critique it, to research areas they discovered needed more research and verification from the communities. They had to give some feedback information gathered in writing to me and to discuss it during our group discussions and joint reporting times, so that other members of the group got the opportunity to interact with the material collected. In this way I made it possible to get the 'insider perspective', as Dziva (1997: 235) suggested: " .. .in. order to understand some elusive aspects of African traditional religions, it may'- be necessary to depend on the insider perspective".
1.5.3. Madupe Herbalist Traditional Healers Association (MHTHA)
Another influential group of people in rural settings are the Traditional Healers. The institution of Traditional Healers has been outstanding in keeping cultural and traditional knowledge, rites, customs and beliefs. This group had, over the years, unashamedly upheld belief in Ancestors. Belief in Ancestors is stronger than belief in MODIMO, in STR, in a sense that communities relate to Ancestors more often than MODIMO. Because of the belief that Traditional Healers are closer to Ancestors and to MODI MO, this was a group not to be marginalized.
Through the guidance of Traditional Healer Ngaka Thaubele Jack Motala, an organized group of Traditional Healers was discovered. They called themselves the Madupe Herbalists and Traditional Healers Association (MHTHA). We organized several group interviews and discussions with them. I was an understudy of Ngaka Thaubele Jack Motala. Some of the group discussions we had with MHTHA was honoured by the presence and participation of the President ofMHTHA, Ngaka Hitler Letswalo.
1.5.4. Other Interlocutors
Other interlocutors we interviewed were individuals whom we met at random.
Some were our own family members and elderly people. Some were individuals we were told could be helpful concerning the information we were seeking. Some were people we met and made friends with in traditional social activities. Most of them, to a large extent, volunteered information passionately. We were always introduced to them by people who knew them very well. The views of these people, as well as of those who were engaged in formal group discussions, have been used in the creation of this thesis.
1.6. Literature Research
It is generally accepted in philosophy of science today that no scientific finding can be conclusively proved on the basis of empirical research (Mouton 1988: 191).
Other forms of research, especially the ethnographic types such as the qualitative and observational method, must be undertaken. Documented material has been taken into account to clarify and augment this investigation. Though the documented evidence may not have come to the same conclusions as did the fieldwork, it serves the purpose of this investigation.
Literature research is indispensable in this investigation. My reading has gone beyond theological documents. I have also inquired into anthropological documents. In fact, there is much common material on the STR's culture, social systems and so on, in both anthropology and theology. But we must not lose sight of the fact that we are solving a doctrinal problem on the question of MOD/MO within the field of systematic theology, and more specifically in the field of African Theology.
1.7. Assumptions
1.7.1. How are the Concepts of MODlMO in STR Different from the Concepts of God?
This investigation assumes that there is a conceptual difference conditioned by the circumstances, situations and mode of communication in which the deities are conceptualized. There is, therefore, a conceptual difference between the concepts of MOD/MO in STR and the God of the Christian religion. Deities conceptualized in different contexts cannot have the same content or meaning.
1.7.2. Where can the Concepts of MODIMO be Found?
The concepts of MODI MO are many and diverse. They can be understood more clearly when found in the general study of the notion of religion, especially African Traditional Religions. More specifically, the concepts of MODI MO can be found among the Sotho people and in the study of Sotho Traditional Religion.
1.7.3. What is the Nature of MODIMO?
MODIMO is more of a deus absconditus (a hidden God), and yet panentheistic.
On the other hand, MODIMO is a moral agent and moral giver to Sotho traditional people. This assumption will be dealt with below, where various ways of using the word 'Modimo' are discussed.
1.S. Delimitations
This work will concentrate on the critical comparison between the concepts of MODIMO in Sotho Traditional Religion (STR) and the concept of the Christian
God as a missiological problem. The assumption to be proved is that there has been a mis-communication and an imposition of the Christian God onto Sotho people. The kind of Christian God communicated to the Sotho people was incongruent with that of the indigenous people.
This work will not take into account the issues which are not necessarily and directly connected with the notion of MOD/MO. For example, the question of witchcraft is ofmajor concern among the Northern Sotho at present, but will not be considered. Nevertheless, if there are aspects of witchcraft which relate to MOD/MO they will be taken into account, but not the subject of witchcraft as a theme on its own. Below is the outline of chapters.
1.9. Outline of Chapters
Chapter one introduces the problem. It contains a review of literature. The method of research is detailed in this chapter. This chapter also contain the assumptions and the delimitation of this investigation.
Chapter two covers the survey of the observations and the debate concerning the concepts of , God' in STR. The debate is entered into by pioneer African Christian theologians against missionaries, colonial administrators, travelers and Western anthropologists. This is followed by the input of other African Christian theologians and African scholars. It ends with the southern African experience of the introduction of the Christian God.
Chapter three contains the missionary background and the concepts of the Christian God they communicated in southern Africa. This chapter serves to reveal who the missionaries were and what they did, in negative and positive terms, in reference to the concepts of the Christian God they communicated.
Chapter four outlines the background of the Sotho world-view. This chapter deals with the Sotho religio-social structure and ethics. In this chapter I deal with the cosmological and ethical context in which the concepts of MODIMO were conceptualized.
Chapter five presents the concepts of MODIMO in STR. This chapter also contains a critical comparison of the concepts of MODI MO in STR and those of the Christian God.
Chapter six contains the statements of the affirmation of the concepts of MODIMO in STR. This chapter also outlines what needs to be done, in regard to what has been discovered. It contains the demonstration of areas where the concepts of MODI MO are irreconcilable with the Christian concepts of God. In this chapter the areas of common ground, and possible entry points for dialogue
and conciliation between the concepts of MODIMO and the concepts of the Christian God are outlined. Finally, it includes the summary of the thesis.
CHAPTER 2
2. AN HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE OBSERVATIONS AND DEBATE