Paleoanthropology: Decolonizing and Building for the Future

Rebecca Ackermann

Rebecca Ackermann

University of Cape Town, South Africa

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Sheela Athreya

Sheela Athreya

University of Cape Town, South Africa

Texas A&M University, United States

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Wendy Black

Wendy Black

University of Cape Town, South Africa

Iziko Museums of South Africa, South Africa

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Robyn Humphreys

Robyn Humphreys

University of Cape Town, South Africa

University of the Western Cape, South Africa

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Robyn Pickering

Robyn Pickering

University of Cape Town, South Africa

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Yonatan Sahle

Yonatan Sahle

University of Cape Town, South Africa

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Lauren Schroeder

Lauren Schroeder

University of Cape Town, South Africa

University of Toronto, Canada

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Abstract

The study of human evolution, also known as palaeoanthropology, focuses on our distant and more recent human past; what shaped us as a lineage, genus, and species; and how we came to be the diverse single species we are today. However, the bulk of this research, knowledge production, and understanding has been driven by the global North to the exclusion of non-Western scientists, despite the deep and rich fossil record of formerly colonized regions (Africa, Australia, South and Southeast Asia, North/South America), maintaining a neocolonial dynamic to this day. Coloniality manifests itself in paleoanthropology in multiple ways: who conducts research, who gets recognition and reward, whose voices and worldviews get centered in paleoanthropological models, what is considered to constitute scientific knowledge, where fossil/archaeological material is housed and curated, and who controls access to these collections. This entry explores these manifestations of coloniality, offering corrective practices.

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