Ackermann, Rebecca, Rogers2024-03-212024-03-212018-09-10https://doi.org/10.31730/osf.io/t3v9ahttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.007https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1239https://doi.org/10.60763/africarxiv/1191https://doi.org/10.60763/africarxiv/1191https://doi.org/10.60763/africarxiv/1191Supplemental Materials: https://osf.io/ftwc7/The history of scientific discovery is overwhelmingly told as a narrative of the lives and discoveries of a series of remarkable white men. Christa Kuljian’s real triumph in this book is that she reframes the narrative of palaeoanthropological discovery in South Africa as a tale of flawed men who succeed – through some combination of luck, skill, personality and perseverance – literally and figuratively on the backs of black bodies. That she tells this story with limited cynicism and anger is a testament to the author. This book takes a rich, personal, archivally-intensive and interview-based look at the history of palaeoanthropology that is uncommon in our field, focussing on a region of the world where the global context of racism and the eugenics movement in the 20th century was further compounded by state-sanctioned apartheid. It is a timely tale of racism and misogyny and how they shape scientists, the scientific enterprise, and narratives of human origins and evolution. Although a large portion of this book is historical, it brings the reader right up to the present, and contains themes that remain relevant today, in the age of #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and other pertinent movements, and affect our field more generally. In this review, I will first provide a very brief summary of the book. I will then highlight what I believe are the book’s most salient themes that are relevant to biological anthropology today: racism in science, intersectionality, and the invalid (but still prevalent) idea that scientists and their work can be separated. Finally, I will consider current practice in palaeoanthropology, as well as various reviews of the book, in order to reflect on these issues.Scientific racismpalaeoanthropologyAfricaReflections on the history and legacy of scientific racism in South African palaeoanthropology and beyond