ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the style and approach of teaching African Traditional Religions (ATRs) course at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ). In teaching ATRs at UZ, the objectives are set out as follows: to acquaint the students with a variety of methods used in the study of African traditional religion; to provide an overview of the African traditional religious world; to cultivate an appreciation of traditional religion in Africa; to try to develop a sense of African identity; and to promote an understanding of the significance of African religious conviction in a pluralistic context. The chapter evaluates the history and method in the study of Shona Traditional Religion by discussing books and periodicals on illness and healing. In Zimbabwe, studies by Michael Gelfand, Michael Bourdillon, Hubert Bucher, Herbert Aschwanden, Gordon Chavunduka, and Martinus Daneel have demonstrated, using different approaches, that health and illness behaviour and health and medical care systems are isolated but are integrated into a network of beliefs.
