Representation of traditional and faith healers in selected Zimbabwean newspapers

Abstract

The study is an explication of the representation of traditional and faith healers in Zimbabwean newspapers. This is done through analysing newspaper articles from selected Zimbabwean Newspapers. Kwayedza, Umthunywa, The Herald, NewsDay, Daily News and two tabloids which are Bulawayo Metropolitan (B-Metro) and Harare Metropolitan (H-Metro) are the papers that were used in the study to pursue the purpose of the study. The study is guided by the Afrocentricity and the extended pragma-dialectic theory. The theories allow the study to explore the issue of traditional and faith healers in line with the political, economic and the social context which shape the system in which they find themselves. The study recognises that traditional healing is the father of all healing systems in Africa. Faith healing and Western medicine are both colonial phenomena; they came into limelight following the colonisation of Africa thereby giving African countries a three-tier health system that comprises of traditional healers, faith healers and medical doctors. The research adopts a qualitative research paradigm. Data for the research is extracted from interviews, critical discourse analysis of newspaper articles and questionnaires. The study established that traditional healers are diabolically represented in Zimbabwean newspapers and this is because of Eurocentrism which is still rife in the minds of Zimbabweans. Eurocentrism depicts people of the African race as inferior, uncivilised, barbaric, savages and chaotic and this annihilates and dehumanises Africans. Faith healers on the other hand receive both positive and negative representation. Positive representation is necessitated by the idea that they are aligned to Christianity and negative representation emanates from the idea that their healing systems embrace the African understanding of disease and illness. The study concludes that the stories are a reflection of the idea that both the media and the minds of the people involved in news production are still held in colonialism. It is therefore concluded that media representation of traditional and faith healers is colonised. The study therefore advocates for the centering of the African in newspaper discourse about traditional and faith healers.