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(NEWZIMBABWE) 'No pure truth' on Great Zimbabwe: historian

COMMENT - This article is all over the place, and tries to bend over backwards to put as much blame on 'the nationalists' for distorting Zimbambwe's pre-colonial history, as it blames colonialism and racism that would deny African people any achievements at all. Sorry, but that doesn't fly, even for the colonial apologists in the MDC. There is a good article on Zimbabwe by Prof. Manu Ampim: Great Zimbabwe - A history almost forgotten.

'No pure truth' on Great Zimbabwe: historian
20/09/2011 00:00:00
by Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu

A LEAKED United States embassy cable on a conversation between the United States ambassador to Zimbabwe and his Indian counterpart has re-ignited the debate over the contested history of the Great Zimbabwe.

The Indian envoy, Ashok Venkatesan, said “Zimbabweans don't even know the true origins of the ruins at the Great Zimbabwe, which were here when the Shona entered from East Africa and settled on land that was essentially vacant”.

Researchers have failed to agree on who built the Great Zimbabwe – with some claiming they were the work of Indonesian mariners, others crediting the Kararanga tribesmen and more opinion suggesting they were the work of Kalangas from South Africa.
Writing for New Zimbabwe.com today, historian Professor Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu, currently-based at the University of South Africa, says “pure historical truth does not exist”:

I FIND it intriguing that US embassy cables, released by WikiLeaks, are even touching on this archeo-pre-historic subject that has pre-occupied the minds of archaeologists, historians, imperialists, colonialists and nationalists alike.

To be honest, I think no living historian can be certain about the builders of these fantastic stone structures. Historians have relied on archaeological evidence which is itself not conclusive on the real identity of the builders of these stone structures.

What we have are inferences drawn from archaeological evidence. What has compounded the question of the identity of the stone structures is that it has been caught up in imperial and nationalist historiographical tango.

In the first place, colonial historiography informed by the civilising mission ideology sought to deny the African origins of the stone structures as it denied whether African people had any history in the first place. Imperial historiography wanted to link all beautiful human inventions to those people with white skins.

On the other hand, African nationalist historiography contested the claims of imperial historiography to the extent of degenerating into the crisis of counter-factualisation as a mode of historical writing. This involved writing African history through analogies with European histories. Typical examples being that if there were great empires in Europe there were also empires in Africa. If there was Napoleon in Europe that King Shaka of the Zulu was the Napoleon of Africa etc.

The debates on the identity of the builders and owners of the stone structures became entangled in this imperialist versus nationalist intellectual and academic tango.

When African nationalism triumphed over colonialism, the debate became favourable to the African narrative. When the 'Shona'-dominated Zanu PF triumphed in the liberation struggle, Shona claims of ownership and being originators of these stone structures also triumphed.

Today, the Shona and African version has carried the day. But even within the African-Shona version there are contestations of Karanga versus Rozvi, Kalanga versus Venda versions.

As a post-colonial thinker, I see history as a terrain of contesting regimes of truth, clashing perspectives and representations dependent on one's locus of enunciation and even political, ethnic and racial belonging. Pure historical truth and objectivity does not exist.

Now that Zimbabwe's name is drawn from these stone structures, there is evidence that some historians will buy into the nationalist regime of truth as the only truth. Personally, I am suspicious of all historical versions and I built other versions.

Labels: COLONIALISM, GREAT ZIMBABWE, MDC, RACISM, RHODESIA, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 3:51 PM