Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?

Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?

Cosmas Nyamutswa, Themba Books, Harare, 2017, $USA/ZIM BOND 20.00

Book Review

By Brian Maregedze

The Great Zimbabwe has been a subject of various interpretations, debates revolving on who built it and the purpose for its construction has been a thorny issue in historical and archaeological studies not leaving out anthropological studies among others. Cosmas Nyamutswa ‘s almost a decade research on the Great Zimbabwe promises much and yet delivers little as this review shall critically unpack. A Zimbabwean pilot by profession, Cosmas Nyamutswa made the effort to do it the antiquarian way which is rather not new in historical studies, however the question remains, how different is he from other researched works on the Great Zimbabwe? To what extent does the book achieve its main objective of offering a possibility for coming up with reasonable, acceptable arguments on who built the Great Zimbabwe and why? Captain Cosmas Nyamurswa pushes for the need to have a refocus on T. N Huffman’s initiation ceremony argument on why Great Zimbabwe was built. The circumcision theory is put forward by the author which then strengthens his position on who built it and why. This book is no doubt a worth read for anyone and everyone interested in the Zimbabwean story, for the soapstone so called Zimbabwe bird explanation is put into question. I intentionally note, so-called Zimbabwe bird since there is another explanation offered by this new 2017 publication. Another explanation on the phalli found at Great Zimbabwe is put into scrutiny thereby making attempts to debunk from the conventional view of the bird/s. How convincing is the circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe?

On 26 October 2017 presenting in the Department of History at the University of Zimbabwe, Captain Cosmas Nyamustwa disappointingly started by retrieving a statement mistakenly attributed to Dr. Plan Shenjere-Nyabenzi written in his book noting that, “archaeologists know 100% about Great Zimbabwe. The debate on Great Zimbabwe is a done deal… There is really nothing to debate”. This statement no doubt is fallacious and it has no substantial grounding in academic discourse. Having said that, the author went on disclose that he is neither a historian nor an archaeologist but rather a professional trained pilot who last studied History at form two. The zeal for writing the book is inspired by the search of identity from the author, the Lemba people. The 270 page book is categorised into four parts, part one has four chapters which deal with the historiography of the Great Zimbabwe. It interesting to note that, the antiquarian tradition can be easily gleaned from the author’s introductory chapter analyzing the exogenous and endogenous explanations on the Great Zimbabwe. The historiography is sometimes narrative in a boring way, capturing the narratives that have been put across by early antiquarians, explorers, missionaries, travelers as well as other Zimbabwean scholars who have contributed to this discourse. The author surprisingly claimed that, “little is known about the history of Great Zimbabwe monument” and sometimes calling the literature “disappointingly little”. However, some reference is made by the author from archaeological and historical studies which are recent studies from scholars like Innocent Pikirayi, Shadreck Chirikure, Gerald C. Mazarire among others which is a sign of reading from the author. This is paradoxical in a way, as the author self-contradicts himself by arguing initially that the literature is disappointingly little without espousing how little is disappointingly little. The last chapter of the book, Great Zimbabwe is African has some of the opinions of the author based on his research on what has to been done in order to address issues that he found in need of further research.

Also observable is that, the author argues that his book calls for, “the need to have a theory that is coherent and at the same time liberates the Great Zimbabwe discourse from sterile polarization within which it has become trapped”. The novice author, although he observes the challenge at hand, his approach also falls into the same trap he claims he intends to debunk. To a professional Historian, citing T. Hawkes, a post-structuralist, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni on Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial history opines the need not only read sources readerly but also writerly. Readerly is when a reader remains passively oriented towards a text, reading it straight, without making any attempt to interpret it. Treating a text as writerly, involves creative and critical interpretation, making the text one’s own, and relating it to other experiences. In this case, the interdisciplinary approach becomes vital which therefore necessitates Joost Fontein an anthropologist’s PhD thesis cum book, The Silence of the Great Zimbabwe: Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage which also deals with the Great Zimbabwe vital.

Captain Cosmas develops his Circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe based on his search for his people’s History, the Lemba whom he claimed in the introduction of the book as a secretive people thus other researchers on the Great Zimbabwe have been left with no much information. From a point of privilege of background and also departing from issues initially researched by archaeologists, T.N Huffman and Peter Garlake the author follows their path but in greater detail. Two maps are used by the author demonstrating the Indian Ocean Trade as well as that of Zimbabwe including Archaeological sites, whilst the forty one photographs are claimed to have been used in the lists of photographs, a page which is not numbered after the contents page shows a photograph labelled, Replica of the Original Canonical Tower built by the author at his Borrowdale house, the other which isn’t referenced is that of a womb, a fetus. These photographs may need a more follow up from the author as they to some extent portray the methodological challenges that an amateur historian may encounter. It is also imperative for readers to find out more about the circumcision theory from the book as this space is limited to give a glimpse of the aspect at hand.
Moving on, a saddening aspect within the book is that the author assumes the following fallacies; there is no doctoral thesis in Zimbabwe on builders and usage of Great Zimbabwe, tourism authorities are involved in marketing Great Zimbabwe without its knowledge, Great Zimbabwe narratives have to be monolithic, obsession with the so called scientific approach to the Great Zimbabwe. These issues can be learned by going through Zimbabwe’s education system such that the exhibition of alienation is closed on the part of the author.

However, a closer reading of the book sometimes reflects a bitter voice who is not only calling for attention but relevance that is the need to have Mwenye voices which he argues to be missing in Zimbabwe’s History in general. This can be followed from the preface of the book when in 2008 the author was sitting with his father asking questions about his family background, he goes on to note that, “…all l had wanted to do initially was draw up my family tree for the benefit of my family. But as l worked on the material l found it fed into my interest in explaining Great Zimbabwe. I came to feel l had stumbled on something very important”.

All in all, it is advisable for the author to note that, ignorance is evil, for with it, you may find yourself denigrating the Zimbabwe’s secondary education and tertiary institutions on the Great Zimbabwe without pursuing its literature in detail which is disastrous. Fortunately l remember so well and it is my hope that on 26 October 2017, new optic lenses of reasoning, approaches, (re)interpretations, where imparted on the author by the University of Zimbabwe’s department of History practitioners for they posited constructive arguments. The book is still useful no doubt for it points to an author who is in search of relevance in Becoming Zimbabwe borrowing from Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo’s (edited) publication. Thus in the quest for becoming Zimbabwe/ean, the academy, the University of Zimbabwe can also be seen as promoting, providing space/s for airing out various viewpoints. Also, a reading of the book assists in understanding the circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe.

Brian Maregedze writing in his own capacity, is a young historian, academic currently pursuing his post graduate studies focusing on African History at the University of Zimbabwe. He is a holder of B.A Honours degree in History, B. A. A major in History and Religious Studies all from the University of Zimbabwe.