The Silence of Great Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe National Monument is not just a symbol of ancient civilization but also a contested landscape where local clans—Nemanwa, Charumbira, and Mugabe—compete for authority through narratives that shape their claims to land and power. Unlike earlier debates about the site's origins, this study reveals how chiefs, spirit mediums, and elders invoke different yet interconnected constructions of the past to justify their positions. Through long-term ethnographic fieldwork, archival research in Zimbabwe, and investigations at the World Heritage Centre in Paris, the book exposes the ongoing destruction, alienation, and desecration of Great Zimbabwe by international and national heritage processes. Central to these narratives is the 'Silence'—the loss of a voice that once spoke from the site—a metaphor for the erasure of local agency in its transformation into a global heritage icon.

Fontein, J. (2016). The Silence of Great Zimbabwe (, Ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315417219