Reinterpretation of Pre-existing Sexual and Reproductive Health Formulas in the Indigenous Shona Society of Zimbabwe

Abstract

While global actors on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) have increasingly championed young people’s participation in decision-making processes, incrementally, the youth continue facing SRH challenges as a result of exposure to Western culture, the internet, social media, and human rights discourse, to mention a few. This study identified a prescriptive ritual practice which promotes sexual repression to manage the SRH of the youth of indigenous Shona communities. The Shona people constitute the largest ethnic group in Zimbabwe. The study used the Indigenous Strengths-based theoretical framework to show how breastfeeding milk is utilised in Shona communities to mould children’s sexual behaviour. Data was collected through interviews and library research, making an appraisal of the kusvinira ritual (squeezing of the breast milk to a newborn baby’s sexual organ) in the indigenous Shona communities in Buhera District. The mother performs the ritual to heal and protect her newborn baby’s future SRH. This is because, across cultural contexts, constructions of SRH issues are strongly tied to notions of “womanhood,” interlinked with reproduction and emergent sexuality. The study argues that a holistic approach to managing the SRH of adolescents should start at an early age when they receive the kusvinira ritual. The ritual is an indigenous strength-based ritual that Shona communities have continually practised to come up with positive, deep-rooted, and lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives.