The Silence of Great Zimbabwe- Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage

Joost Fontein

Pre-colonial great Zimbabwe was a sacred site that lay at the centre of disputes among local clans over superiority and land ownership. Colonialism saw the site appropriate to provide historical and moral justification for the imperial project. It became the centre of a contest, known as the Zimbabwe Controversy, between 'professional' archeologists and 'amateur' Rhodesian 'antiquarians' over who should have the authority to investigate and present the past. Meanwhile the site itself aquired new meaning as a national monument and a tourist destination.
Fontein argues that the people who live around Great Zimbabwe are just as much excluded from it today as they were then. He describes how local spirit mediums, in alliance with excombatants, have constructed their own African memory.

ISBN: 1779220405
pp. 30;234x156 mm