Institutionalized “Culture Development” and the Development of Local Communities in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In the Zimbabwean context, two cultures are regarded as dominant; Shona and Ndebele. The domination of these two cultures led to the pushing of the other cultures to the periphery. The domination and or the systematic blocking of cultures from accessing their basic rights is referred to as culture marginalisation; however, culture is regarded as fundamental to any society’s development. Thus, this study used Afrocentricity as the theoretical framework in a bid to unravel the role non-governmental organisations play in cultural development for sustainable economic development. The study engaged both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. These methods enabled the researchers to establish that ‘culture development’ is a foreign phenomenon in the Shangani community that has achieved little concerning culture improvement. It has also been established that ‘culture development’ cannot be promoted by institutions that are donor funded since donor funds sponsor projects to achieve certain goals. ‘Culture development’ has hence been established to be the manipulation of culture by the elite for various reasons. The study also established that ‘culture development’ in the Shangani community is failing to bring about sustainable community development as per Gaza’s vision thus this study concludes that ‘culture development’ is culture manipulation for various reasons that include political as well as economic.

Keywords: Shangani, Institutionalization of Culture, Culture development, Sustainable development, Popular culture, Politics, Ideology.

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/70-03

Publication date:June 30^th 2023