Talk:Shona people

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 August 2019 and 6 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Laylakeysor.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:16, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
The name Swina is derogatory and is not used at all to refer to the Shona peoples of Zimbabwe.

---

Indeed! But the Shona witch doctor is quite sexy, isn´t he? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.128.45.50 (talk) 20:35, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

more information about the shona; their history, clans and current tribal groups can be found on this site http://mashona.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/the-shona-people/ it is very useful and accurate. Rushworth (talk) 10:39, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

"traditionally agricultural"?
The intro says that the Shona traditionally grew "beans, peanuts, corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes". However all of these come from the New World and so couldn't have been "traditionally" grown for more than a few centuries. What did the Shona do before the introduction of New World crops? Were they arable herders like other Bantu speaking peoples, or were they agriculturalists, as the large settlements of Mutapa implies? And if so, what crops did they grow during that period? --86.148.57.140 (talk) 22:06, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

These crops you mentioned are not "new world crops", infact they existed in Shona culture since time immemorial - may be the new world simply brought in new variety of species of these crops, which already had African equivalnce and/or origins. The Shona actually grew these crops as well as African species of cereals. In Shona, ancient terms exist for these crops which are not a recent construction or rendering. "Beans" are called "nyemba", with another species variation (round in shape) called "nyimo". "Peanuts" are called "nzungu" while pumpkins are called "manhanga". "Sweet potatoes" are called "mbambaira" or "mabura" and there are several species of these with different terms. "Corn" is called "chibagwe". All these are ancient terms, which existed long before Europeans arrived in Africa. In the group of cereals, there is "rukweza", "mhunga" and "mapfunde", which English equivalent I have no idea of. There is a huge variety of crops and vegetables grown by the Shona and other African peoples since time immemorial ... with a strong possibility that Europe and the rest of the world actually got these crops from Africa. Africa is the home of a huge variety of plant, insect and animal species on earth and its narrow-mindedness bordering on racist or idiotic or moronic posturing to claim that Africans either didn't grow anything or grew an extremely limited range of crops. In fact historical evidence says that we all originate from Africa and you just can't move out of your home into unkown land without carrying anything when humans are known for catering for the unknown! User: Shiku --89.125.37.107 (talk) 17:43, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The unsigned post above by User:Shiku is unfortunately typical of the article generally and is basically unauthenticated POV, finished off with a diatribe against those who dare to ask questions. Can we please have some verifiable content in this article?--79.74.250.219 (talk) 10:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The fact that there are Shona names for crops is quite irrelevant to their source of origin! I suppose therefore that the telephone and telescope were invented by the Ancient Greeks because their names come from Ancient Greek LOL! Archaeological investigation shows that peanuts, corn and sweet potatoes were introduced into Southern Africa about 500 years ago, probably by the Portuguese. However, several crops which are less nutritious than these were cultivated prior to that, most notably millet and cowpea among some others. There are some African (and Eurasian) species of beans but the only kinds cultivated nowadays are those (again, more nutritious) brought from South and Central America in the 16th and 17th centuries.--Sinazita (talk) 22:00, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

great zimbabwe may be largest ruins in africa south of equator but eg. numerous precolombian ruins in s america (chan,chan, ollantytambo, micchu picchu bigger, and borobudur on java is bigger still —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.158.28.198 (talk) 14:29, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Population
Has anyone noticed that the population said to exist in Zimbabwe does not add up? On the Zimbabwe page, it says the Shona make up 82% of the population, some 10 million people, and yet on this article it says their numbers are closer to 3 mil~? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.221.0.62 (talk) 18:32, 7 February 2015 (UTC)


 * The overall count of http://joshuaproject.net is untidy.
 * If you look at the statistics for the single countries in that portal, you see that 2,877,000 for Zimbabwe are only the Central Shona.
 * The whole statistics requires some additions.
 * I'm preparing a revised table on Joshua Project base.
 * In general, Wikipedia should prefer neutral sources rather than religious ones :)
 * --Ulamm (talk) 14:23, 27 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Just I've tried to transfer my table (based on joshuaproject-data) into de.wikipedia.
 * There, http://joshuaproject.net is on the black list of anapproved links.--Ulamm (talk) 16:20, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Copyedit
Hi

This article is dreadful. It has lots of OR, strange ramblings about god and seems very racist - both towards the Shona and "the white settlers"

I will copyedit it in the next week. Chaosdruid (talk) 22:30, 10 May 2019 (UTC)

Complaint about image used to describe Shona people.
Of all the images that could be used to describe the Shona people, you choose to use the image of a tribal witch doctor. There are 16 million Shona people around the world a lot of them highly educated and professional yet you imply that they are still primitive and uncouth. I find this highly racist and disrespectful Tinashemasenhu (talk) 13:41, 10 August 2021 (UTC)

I agree on your comment, that somebody placed that picture is indication of lack of understanding probably or invalidation of people. We will make some pictures soon and upload it.

Jlouis (talk) 07:37, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

elaborate "was" -- Mitupo are an elaborate was of identifying clans and sub-clans
''In Zimbabwe, (mutupo) (plural mitupo) wrongly called totems by colonial missionaries and athropologists have been used by the Shona people since their culture developed. Mitupo are an elaborate was of identifying clans and sub-clans. They help to avoid incest, and they also build solidarity and identity.''

That paragraph is hard to understand, is it maybe meant to say that Mitupe are elaborate ways? Instead of "was"?

--Jlouis (talk) 07:40, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

Needed Revisions
Here are the following measures I intend to enact on this page: Wdonghan (talk) 16:34, 24 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Language
 * Split identity off from language and exclusively talk about Shona and the Shona dialects
 * Remove essay like tone and adopt a more neutral tone.
 * History
 * Needs lots more research, especially considering how rich the history of pre-colonial Kingdoms in Zimbabwe are.
 * Religion
 * Heavy editing is needed to give more neutral tone; subsection sounds like a personal screed
 * Paragraph breaks are nonexistent
 * Culture
 * I've already edited some of the contents, but more information should be added to make article more well rounded.

Destruction of Rizvi Empire
Your assertion that the Ndebele destroyed the Rozwi Empire in 1830s needs correction as it is not correct. In 1830s the Matabele were in Transvaal fighting wars with Boers. It's there in recorded history. When King Mzilikazi arrived in 1840 he  had a mutual understanding with Mambo the Rozwi ruler and they united the two tribes. Traditional rites were carried out to that effect. There's a Ndebele song still sung todate on joint rule in 19th century...*kudala kwakungenje kwakubusu Mambo lo Mzilikazi* Which Mambo ??..then if it was destroyed. King Zwangendaba of Angoni & his remnants oversaw the Rozwi destruction. Can we avoid I'll founded seeds of hate please. 82.132.187.189 (talk) 00:30, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

Joshua Project
Joshua Project is not a reliable source of information, I personally don’t believe we should source of information from that source. Mindthem (talk) 19:59, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

Use of "country"
In the box that describes the use of affixes in chiShona to denote the specific group that Shona is describing, under "country," Zimbabwe and Mozambique are listed. This is different than on most other Bantu language pages, such as the Chewa people or Sotho people pages. Should the use of it on this article be changed to match those? 2603:7080:A33B:5CEE:7571:22EE:C0C1:627B (talk) 20:39, 6 June 2024 (UTC)