World's Education Journal by CISC

Ngano as a method: Reclaiming African indigenous epistemologies in research

Enet Mukurazita

College of Education and Human Development

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/wejc.v1i1.7133

Keywords: Indigenous research methods, Shona, Ngano, Participatory knowledge production, African-centered inquiry, Ubuntu, Relational ethics

Abstract

Ngano is a traditional Shona storytelling practice used as an Indigenous research method in African culture, seeking to bring back African ways of knowing often overlooked by Western research that focuses on individualism, data collection, and written records. Ngano relies on relational validity, meaning that truth and meaning are created together through social connections and group participation, and is built on three main principles: storytelling as a way to pass down history and knowledge, relational knowledge utilizing cultural practices to build trust, and oral and embodied practice valuing songs, gestures, and emotions as valid information sources. These ideas are put into practice through Rungano Rwako (individual storytelling) and Gungano (group gatherings), which makes participants into Sarungano, or keepers of knowledge. Guided by Ubuntu ethics, Ngano offers a decolonial, relational, and people-focused way to do research.