The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present.

• Author: Muiu, Mueni wa
• Position: AFRICA

Beinart, William, and Saul Dubow. The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021.

It is not often that one comes across a volume that traces the history of science in South Africa from 1700 to the present. Especially one that also highlights the role of science in governing South Africa from colonialism to the post-apartheid period. Power is displayed throughout this period as South Africa is cataloged and recorded. Relations between the colonialists and the indigenous people are unequal, because the settlers have the power to research, catalog, and record all aspects of life in South Africa, which the indigenous people cannot do to the Europeans. Toward that end, physical conquest is both intellectual and ideological. How South Africa is known informs the types of methods used for domination and oppression of the indigenous communities, such as anthropological studies that present the indigenous people as "lazy" and "warlike." White supremacy also influenced relations and methods used to exterminate the Khoi and San people. In this sense, the Bible, book, and gun played critical roles in the making of South Africa.

This volume is divided into seven chapters. The first one introduces the reader to scientific imagination and local knowledge of the Cape in the eighteenth century. The reader learns about the role of scientists, from identifying South Africa's animals, diseases, plants, and governance systems to setting up a department of health and a sewage system. Accounts by travelers such as John Barrow and Martin Lichtenstein reflected their beliefs about the local people as well as the methods used to govern. For Barrow, British colonialism was more "enlightened" than that of the Dutch. He also believed that slavery in the Cape was unnecessary, since it encouraged laziness among the colonialists. Most items gathered in South Africa, from animals to plants, were shipped to Dutch laboratories and later to British ones. This science dehumanized the African woman, as the case of Sara Baartman illustrates. Scientists from Holland and Britain influenced the development of science in South Africa. Most of South Africa's scientists also joined various esteemed organizations in South Africa, such as the Royal Geographic Society, as well as prestigious academic institutions in Europe and the United States.

In chapter 2, the authors examine the role of science in the creation of colonial...