Racist science: New book challenges colonial narratives around race

CapeTalk's Clarence Ford is joined by Prof. David Jacobs.

Listen below:

In his new book, Prof. David Jacobs claims that science denial is growing, and that part of the problem lies in how science has been portrayed over time.

Jacobs argues that science was shaped by colonial narratives that excluded non-European contributions and human experience.

In Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid, he calls for a more inclusive and realistic view of science.

"I recognised there were certain contradictions in what I'd been told growing up in South Africa."

- Prof. David Jacobs, Author - Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid

"These contradictions just made me feel there was more to the story than what I'd been told or taught."

- Prof. David Jacobs, Author - Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid

Jacobs says science has a very checkered history when it comes to race.

"There's a phenomenon known as scientific racism, where past researchers try to prove, using science, that race was in fact a biological phenomenon."

- Prof. David Jacobs, Author - Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid

"It involved taking racial prejudices that existed in those scientists and converting them to respectable scientific hypotheses, and then searching for the evidence that would uphold that hypothesis."

- Prof. David Jacobs, Author - Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid

Jacobs says modern science developed during the height of colonialism.

"It was imperative that Western science supported the colonial agenda."

- Prof. David Jacobs, Author - Decolonizing Science: The Search for Thales and Euclid

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.