The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present by William Beinart and Saul Dubow

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present by William Beinart and Saul Dubow Mueni wa Muiu 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 postapartheid 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 [End Page 217] 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 institutions and governance. Once they replaced the Dutch, the British introduced their own versions of colonial institutions. Changes in law and in the currency used were introduced to make governance more efficient. The first chief justice, whose expertise was Roman-Dutch Law, was appointed in 1812. The court system was extended to cover more areas. New medical and scientific institutions were also introduced. Indigenous knowledge was also changing, with the Zulu Kingdom using new military weapons and innovations in fighting such as amabutho (regiments). Science also informed agriculture and the mining sector, as discussed in chapter 3. Indigenous populations fought against the colonial encroachment, but between the 1870s and the 1890s the remaining independent kingdoms were conquered once Britain imported soldiers to fight using new military weapons. These populations were integrated in the four settler states based on white supremacy and inequality: Cape, Natal, Orange Free State, and the South African Republic (Transvaal). Africans were pushed into overcrowded reserves where cleanliness implied racial cleansing. Science informed the progress of the Anglo–Boer War (1899), which resulted from Britain's imperialist greed to control the mining sector. Africans (20,000) and Afrikaners (28,000) were forced into concentration camps, where initially the British refused to vaccinate them against typhoid and measles. British "methods of barbarism" resulted in immense suffering. The authors note that the cause of typhoid had been identified by 1880 as a bacterium that was transmitted through water and contaminated food. The war also introduced the plague in South Africa, which affected most African reserves. American engineers played a critical role in the mining sector. Science also informed governance once the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 as a white settler state...