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ABSTRACT
This essay is a discourse on the Shona proverb as a conduit for the transmission and expression of fundamental attributes of ubuntu. The research argues that traditional Zimbabwean institutions drew sustenance from the country's value-systems and experiences embodied in the Shona proverb. The Shona proverb as a product of the historical and cultural experiences of the Shona people unravels the world-view of the Shona people. It is the submission of this essay that ethos which constitute ubuntu are embodied in the Shona proverb. Unhu /ubuntu is vital in creating the necessary general framework within which people can pursue their life's existential projects necessary for development. Zimbabwe, therefore, needs recourse to the wisdom encapsulated in the Shona proverb in order for her to experience equipoise, harmony, serenity, balance and peace, which are the basis for Africa's progress.
Introduction
UNHU IS A SHONA word whose equivalent in Nguni is ubuntu. The concept of unhu in Zimbabwe is similar to that of other African cultures. Unhu is a social philosophy which embodies virtues that celebrate mutual social responsibility, mutual assistance, trust, sharing, unselfishness, self-reliance, caring, and respect for others, among other ethical values. It means patterns of behaviour acceptable to the Shona people. This involves an ethical stance and attitudes that influence the way people participate in various departments of their lives. Their ethos amounts to their conception of what is right and wrong, beautiful and ugly. This ethos constitutes the parameters used to qualify a Shona person as munhu and not just a human being.
Proceeding from the above apprehension, one must assume that not all Shona people are vanhu (human beings). In Shona culture, a person has to meet certain obligations regarded as good according to the Shona world-view in order to be referred to as munhu. Unhu is perceived as the school of Shona life that generates an ethos which proceeds to inform, govern, and direct Shona people's institutions: namely, social, economic, political, and religious. It therefore regulates, informs, and directs action and approaches to life and its challenges. Unhu sets a premium on human behaviour and relations. This essay contends that unhu is a product of the Shona cultural experience and derives from Shona cultural heritage.
Proverbs are condensed assertions about the...