Gossip in a Shona Community

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Periodical article

Title:	Gossip in a Shona Community
Authors:	Bourdillon, Michael Shambare, Michael
Year:	2002
Periodical:	Anthropology Southern Africa
Volume:	25
Issue:	3-4
Pages:	78-85
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	communication Shona Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	The literature on gossip shows disagreement about its nature and function, and in particular about its role in social control. This article is based on research in a Shona community, covering four villages in Sengezi, about 140 km east of Harare, Zimbabwe, and deals with what the community members themselves said about gossip, or 'guhwa'. They described situations in which it is difficult to speak about offences openly. In such situations, offended parties are likely to seek relief and redress through gossip. The community thus perceives social control to be an important function of gossip. Academics generally prefer precise definitions for phenomena which they analyse and so confine the meaning of the term 'gossip' to exclude certain kinds of communication. Members of the Shona community, however, use the term more loosely and so are able to combine varied kinds of conversation, which together form a process of communication within the community. This broader use of the term 'gossip' therefore includes also processes, such as social control, that may be excluded by narrower definitions of the term. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]