Shona Reasoning Skills in Zimbabwe: The Importance of Riddles (Report)

Introduction Riddles (zvirahwe) are a central aspect of the system of education of the Shona people of Zimabawe. Thus, they are part and parcel of a plethora of ways through which the traditional Shona of Zimbabwe not only sharpened the reasoning skills of the young but also provided recreation to participants. The search for solutions to riddles challenges the Shona child to think abstractly, broadly and deeply while their figurative language gives the child the chance to uncover their meaning through a reasoning process. The answer to a given riddle acts as a conclusion of the logical process and it is often a one word answer which both precise and clear to the participants. In Shona society, riddles promote logical skills and the one who is capable of solving many riddles is arguably more mentally sophisticated than the one who is less capable. That riddles are a permanent feature of the Shona way of life, therefore, uncontested, this prompted Gelfand (1973:5) to commend that "the Shona possess much that is worth retaining and the prospects are that they will save a good deal of it for succeeding generations." Though the tide of Western colonisation and globalisation has swept across the Shona territory, great many aspects of their way of life have been retained and this includes riddles.