Methodological Sovereignty in Community-driven Language Research:: A Decolonial Mixed-methods Approach to the Revitalization of Tonga Language in Zimbabwe
This paper advances a framework of methodological sovereignty in community-driven language research by detailing a Decolonial mixed-methods study on Tonga language revitalization in Zimbabwe. Despite constitutional recognition of Tonga among Zimbabwe’s sixteen official languages, its marginalization persists in education, governance, and public domains. Conventional research approaches often reproduce these exclusions through extractivist methods and Eurocentric paradigms. In response, this study employs a convergent parallel mixed-methods design grounded in Indigenous epistemologies particularly Ubuntu and Sankofa and aligned with principles of relational accountability and epistemic justice. The methodology integrates qualitative tools such as focus groups and auto-ethnographic journaling with quantitative surveys, ensuring both cultural responsiveness and analytical rigor. Data collection and analysis were carried out in four Tonga-speaking districts using participatory strategies to foreground community voices and counter hierarchies in knowledge production. The study demonstrates how embedding Indigenous worldviews in all phases of the research process supports linguistic revitalization, disrupts epistemic dominance, and reclaims agency in how Indigenous languages are studied and sustained. Through dialogic co-production, contextualized sampling, and ethical reciprocity, the research illustrates how methodological sovereignty is essential to achieving genuine sociolinguistic equity in postcolonial contexts.
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