This article is about power in pre-colonial polities of the Chishona-speaking people who lived in the north-eastern parts of the Zimbabwean plateau from the late 16th century to the end of the 19th century. It is an examination of how ruling lineages rationalised their claims to authority and how their subjects and others contested those claims. Paying attention to chiefly lineages’ narratives and to ritual politics central to social health and to the actions and voices of individuals for whom rituals were performed, and those who performed them, the article demonstrates the limits of chiefly power and the power of autochthonous communities in these polities. Further, the article addresses questions of gender, fertility, politics and contestations over authority among the pre-colonial inhabitants of the Zimbabwean plateau. In this way, it shifts scholarly attention from ruling families to those who belonged to these communities but were not of the ruling lineages. More importantly, it demonstrates the ways in which we can use oral traditions and archives to write a social history of power among pre-colonial southern Africa’s chieftainship-based polities. The article moves beyond the empire- and dynasty-centric histories of pre-colonial Zimbabwe – histories that turn out to be more about the ruling lineages than they are about the many people who constituted these societies – while privileging local social processes in the making of pre-colonial Zimbabwean polities.

中文翻译：

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叙事，仪式和政治想像力：16世纪至19世纪东北津巴布韦瓦绍纳的社会和政治世界

这篇文章是关于16世纪后期到19世纪末居住在津巴布韦高原东北部的说奇索纳语的殖民者前殖民政权的。这是对统治血统如何合理化他们对权威的主张以及他们的臣民和其他人如何质疑这些主张的研究。本文关注主要血统的叙述和对社会健康至关重要的礼节政治，以及对进行礼节的个人和进行礼节的个人的行为和声音，证明了主要权力和乡土社区的权力的局限性这些政体。此外，本文还讨论了津巴布韦高原前殖民地居民的性别，生育力，政治以及关于权力的争执等问题。如此，它将学术上的注意力从统治家庭转移到属于这些社区但不属于统治血统的人们。更重要的是，它展示了我们可以使用口头传统和档案资料在殖民前南部非洲基于酋长制的政体之间书写社会权力历史的方式。这篇文章超越了前殖民地津巴布韦以帝国和王朝为中心的历史-事实证明，这些历史更多地是关于统治血统，而不是关于构成这些社会的许多人的历史-同时使地方社会进程享有特权。殖民前的津巴布韦政体。它展示了我们可以使用口头传统和档案来在殖民前南部非洲基于酋长制的政体之间书写权力的社会历史的方式。这篇文章超越了前殖民地津巴布韦以帝国和朝代为中心的历史，这些历史原来更多地是关于统治血统，而不是关于构成这些社会的许多人的历史，同时使地方社会进程享有特权。殖民前的津巴布韦政体。它展示了我们可以使用口头传统和档案来在殖民前南部非洲基于酋长制的政体之间书写权力的社会历史的方式。这篇文章超越了前殖民地津巴布韦以帝国和王朝为中心的历史-事实证明，这些历史更多地是关于统治血统，而不是关于构成这些社会的许多人的历史-同时使地方社会进程享有特权。殖民前的津巴布韦政体。