In recent years, there has been an increase in the exhumation and reburial of remains of liberation-war fighters in Zimbabwe. Since 2011, the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe (FHTZ), an organisation established by war veterans aligned to the ruling party, ZANU(PF), has taken a lead in these exhumation projects. Drawing on my experience of working with FHTZ as an archaeologist then employed by the government under the parastatal National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), this article looks at the politicisation of liberation struggle exhumations by FHTZ, focusing on the case of Butcher site in eastern Zimbabwe in 2013. I argue that, during the exhumations, FHTZ deployed spirituality in a spectacular fashion in the service of ZANU(PF)’s ‘patriotic history’, a narrative through which the party claimed legitimacy, as a means of attacking the opposition party in an election year. This approach sparked methodological conflicts between NMMZ archaeologists and the FHTZ in terms of the speed of exhumation, the tools used in undertaking exhumations and the means by which graves were located and human remains identified. NMMZ was overridden in these conflicts. As a result, the archaeologists were in effect commandeered to participate in and legitimise a political project that used exhumations as a campaigning vehicle for ZANU(PF).

中文翻译：

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津巴布韦东部解放斗争遗物的政治化：精神唤起，爱国主义和职业主义

近年来，津巴布韦的解放战争战斗人员遗体的发掘和返还有所增加。自2011年以来，津巴布韦堕落英雄基金会（FHTZ）是由退伍军人与执政党ZANU（PF）结盟而成立的组织，在这些掘尸项目中发挥了领导作用。借鉴我与FHTZ作为考古学家合作的经验，然后由政府在津巴布韦半国立国家博物馆和纪念碑（NMMZ）任政府工作，本文着眼于FHTZ将解放斗争掘尸活动政治化，重点是在2013年在津巴布韦东部。我辩称，在掘尸期间，FHTZ以惊人的方式部署了灵性，以支持ZANU（PF）的“爱国历史”，该叙事通过该党主张合法性，作为在选举年中进攻反对党的一种手段。这种方法引发了NMMZ考古学家和FHTZ在挖掘尸体的速度，进行挖掘尸体的工具以及坟墓定位和鉴定人类遗骸的方法方面的方法论冲突。在这些冲突中，NMMZ被覆盖了。结果，考古学家实际上被邀请参加一个政治项目，并使该项目合法化，该项目使用挖掘尸体作为ZANU（PF）的竞选工具。