Review of The Silence of Great Zimbabwe by Paul Hubbard

Fontein, stuff Joost. 2006. The Silence of Great Zimbabwe: Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage. Harare: Weaver Press
and London: UCL Press. 264 pp. ISBN 978-1-77922-040-0 (paperback). Price: £22.50.

This is, treatment arguably, online one of the most important books yet published about Great Zimbabwe. Compared to other, purely archaeological works preoccupied with the site’s early history, this book takes a look at the broader social and political context, focusing on what the site has meant to the people of Zimbabwe. This meaning and how it has been changed, negotiated and imposed is something that would require several volumes to discuss fully, but this book provides the essential, pioneering platform upon which all future studies will surely build.

Fontein begins with a somewhat uninspired discussion of the Zimbabwe Controversy that pits the ideas of the Romanticists against the studies of ‘scientific’ archaeologists. A valuable point made is that the professionalized, scientific study of the site alienated the majority of the population (black and white) from contributing their ideas and feelings. Fontein, however, does not listen to the voices of White Zimbabweans with the same attention he gives to Black Zimbabweans. Yet both are valuable in the contestation of the site and the views of many of the white settlers cannot be dismissed as uniform racist attempts to deny indigenous heritage.

The next couple of chapters deal with the local communities who live around the site and provide the landscape with its rich 182 South African Archaeological Bulleti 62 (186): 178–184, 2007 and complex meanings. Mugabe’s Duma, Charumbira’s people and the Nemanwa clan are all known to have arrived just prior to white colonists, yet each claim they are the original, legitimate inhabitants of the area. How these assertions are presented, reinforced and changed, against each other and all other interests, is presented in some detail by Fontein, revealing a fierce, and previously unacknowledged, contestation of the site and surrounds. There are multiple voices that demand and need to be heard, but professional heritage managers have generally remained indifferent. This has created the ‘silence’ that Fontein’s account sets about piercing.

The “silence of anger” (p. 77) caused by the “desecration” of the site through excavations and object removal has, according to the local communities, resulted in the spirits of the land abandoning the site. They do not distinguish between careful removal of the relics by museum professionals and treasure hunting, raising pertinent questions about the rights of professionals to manage and interpret the site without local consultation. The professionalization of the study of the site has apparently meant little to the locals in terms of their religious and traditional practices. These associated communities argue that ceremonies now need to be held to appease the spirits and regain the ‘voices’ that once were present.

The section on nationalism and Great Zimbabwe reveals how the site was used “for the imagination of a nation” (p. 117), encouraging pride and national unity. Fontein convincingly argues that Great Zimbabwe was less important for inspiring recruits to fight for the nationalist movement than was the leaders’ presentation and account of the heroes of the first liberation struggle. The site became a public focal point for the idolization of these heroes, intimately associated with how the ancestors purportedly passed on the mantle of command, to the new leaders, via spirit mediums. Fontein sees the use of aspects of the first liberation struggle by the nationalists as an inspirational symbol of past African achievement, and as more imaginative and creative than the use of Great Zimbabwe in the same role. Somewhat cynically, Fontein concludes that the leadership used Great Zimbabwe more as a highly visible rallying point than as a sacred site which housed the spirits of the ancestors.

The later chapters, which focus on the professionalization of the management of the site, are thought provoking. Fontein argues that only once the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) had indisputably consolidated authority over the site did they begin to entertain notions of local participation. The development of the admirable cooperation between NMMZ and UNESCO in preserving, managing and marketing the site is presented in light of how NMMZ has systematically denied the local people access to the site or any authorship in presentation. The use of the assumed international ‘value’ of the site allowed NMMZ to prohibit and control activities in the name of conserving the ruins and their reputation. It is only with recent changes in the World Heritage system, that address and interrogate the intrinsic cultural values of a site and that recognize intangible values, that NMMZ has begun to allow local people to conduct ceremonies. There remains the question of whether it is cooperation or co-optation, that is, whether the locals initiate activities or do what they are told. This is a point raised throughout, especially in light of the often uncompromising attitude of NMMZ to interactions with local stakeholders. The forced movement of the Traditional Village at Great Zimbabwe is a case in point.

The book ends with a look at the ‘patriotic history’ currently promulgated by the Government and how this has influenced the perception of the site. Arrestingly, Fontein reveals that the local people, in light of the arduous economic hardships prevailing in the country, no longer value the site as an inspiring symbol of the nation, instead seeing it as just a “heap of stones” (p. 224). Howthen is the site to survive in light of such indifference? Possibly better access to the site and equitable interaction between the local communities and NMMZ would help.

Marring this otherwise superb book is an apparent lack of care, on the part of author and editors, with regard to references. Many authors’ names are spelt incorrectly while pagination for articles is rarely provided. This raises niggling doubts about the accuracy of some of the field notes and archival transcriptions. More care was needed with the arrangement of the text, as spaces between words are sometimes omitted.

This book is a good beginning. Hopefully, it will encourage a re-thinking of the current management approach to the site. Zimbabweanist archaeologists and historians can take note and present inclusive and representative local histories that are relevant to those who matter the most– the people of Zimbabwe.

Paul Hubbard
7 Hillside Road
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe