ABSTRACT
This paper examines two different reactions to South Africa’s fossil hominin record and related propaganda after the end of apartheid. The first is an objection to using human evolution to create a common heritage to reconcile white and black South Africans. The second is a rejection of hominin evolution, not as an affront to religious beliefs, but as a racist Western science. To contextualise these views the paper examines more closely the history of the growth of palaeoanthropology and archaeology in South Africa and its complicity in racialising and supporting the differential treatment of people based on colour. It shows how the uptake of hominin evolution in schools and some universities has been partly hindered through religious misgivings, but the main source of resistance from students at universities is due to lack of transformation in the field.
