Rocking the Cradle

Thursday, 16 October, 2014 - 12:30

Christa Kuljian, a Writing Fellow at WiSER, is working on a book about the history of paleo-anthropology in South Africa.

The book's working title is:

Rocking the Cradle: A New Look at the Stories Behind the Search for Human Origins in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christa has been unearthing untold stories and new ways of approaching current writing about South Africa’s ‘Cradle of Humankind’ and would like the chance to share some of her research so far. She will present the preliminary structure of the book, which will cover the time period from Raymond Dart and the Taung Skull in 1925 through to Lee Berger and Rising Star in 2014. The book will explore the history of hominid fossil finds within the context of a changing South Africa, from the era of Jan Smuts’s interest in South African science through to the apartheid government’s refusal to teach evolution in schools, to Thabo Mbeki’s interest in human origins as a component of the African Renaissance. This will be a sweeping story with many recurring themes, including the need to look more closely at people and events behind the scenes. Given the fact that many of the main characters are based at the University of the Witwatersrand, this is very much a Wits story as well.

The book is scheduled for publication with Jacana in April 2016, so at this stage Christa is looking for feedback and ideas from everyone at this lunchtime discussion.

All welcome

Wednesday, 15 October 2014
1pm

WiSER Seminar Room,
6th Floor, Richard Ward Building,
East Campus, Wits University

 
*The working title of Christa’s book is: Rocking the Cradle: A New Look at the Stories Behind the Search for Human Origins in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind*

RSVP: Najibha.Deshmukh@wits.ac.za

WISER Research Theme: