Decolonising science? The case of human origins research

The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research will host Christa Kuljian be in discussion with Professor Hlonipha Mokoena.

Kuljian is the author of the acclaimed Darwin’s Hunch: Science, Race and the Search for Human Origins .The discussion will be chaired by Sarah Nuttall. Scientists and their research are often shaped by the prevailing social and political context. Darwin’s Hunch explores this trend, and provides fresh insight on the search for human origins in South Africa over the past century.

Kuljian asks: “What impact did colonialism have on the views of scientists studying human evolution in the early twentieth century? What influence did apartheid have on the search? How have the changing scientific views about race, and racism, affected efforts to understand human evolution?” Mokoena will engage Kuljian in bold, outspoken and forthright discussion on this complicated and contested topic.  

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