Paper short abstract:

An examination of how colonial entities ignored the objects that are key to Shona religious beliefs. The Shona do not use masks or figurative sculpture. Their material representations of the ancestors are utilitarian objects such as snuff containers, ceremonial knives and axes, and headrests.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine how colonial entities ignored or at best misunderstood the material objects that are key to understanding Shona religious beliefs. The Shona do not make or use masks or figurative sculpture and so Europeans never felt the need for the replacement strategies witnessed in other parts of Africa. The most important Shona religious leaders are spirit-mediums. At both the local (family) and regional (chieftaincy) level these religious practitioners become possessed by the spirits of the ancestors, and interact with the living to help resolve problems. Apart from ritual dress, there are no material objects involved, and instead it is the immaterial embodied voice of the ancestors that is important. Spirit-mediums did come into conflict with colonial forces, as is illustrated by the arrest and execution of spirit-mediums during the first "Chimurenga" (war against the British in the 1890s), and the involvement of spirit-mediums during the second "Chimurenga" (war of liberation during the 1970s). What was totally ignored, however, was the fact that there are material representations of the ancestors that the Shona use: the 'supposedly simple', utilitarian objects such as snuff containers, ceremonial knives and axes, and headrests. These are passed down through generations (as part of inheritance rituals at funerals), and are routinely brought out when appeals are made to the ancestors. Probably because they were not the "Religious Art" colonials were used to they were ignored or misunderstood, but for the Shona they remained as a subtle, potent, but hidden focus for their religious beliefs!