Decolonizing Great Zimbabwe: The Past, Present and Future of an Ancient City

Great Zimbabwe is one of the most well-known archaeological sites in Africa. Occupied from the 4th through to 15th centuries, the site encompasses hundreds of stone structures spread across 1,800 acres in southeastern Zimbabwe.

Although early archaeological evidence demonstrated the ancient city’s local construction, the colonial Rhodesian government continued to promote unfounded ideas about Great Zimbabwe as an outpost of biblical figures like King Midas and Queen Sheba to justify British rule in Southern Africa throughout most of the 20th century. Arguments about the site’s racial origins persisted until 1980, when Zimbabwe declared its independence from Britain and integrated Great Zimbabwe imagery into its national identity, including the local currency and flag.

Despite this reclamation by black Zimbabweans, academic and public narratives continue to portray the city as a Medieval European castle. Stories of monarchs and royal guards, while entertaining, do not reflect the experiences and histories of people living in the area today and alienate the site’s ancestors from their cultural heritage.

This series of talks will address this discrepancy by highlighting a new research project based at the University of Oxford using cutting-edge archaeological evidence to reinterpret the site in ways that engage and empower the site’s descendant communities.