Casts, bones and DNA: interrogating the relationship between science and postcolonial indigeneity in contemporary South Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Casts, bones and DNA: interrogating the relationship between science and postcolonial indigeneity in contemporary South Africa
Author:	Schramm, Katharina
Year:	2016
Periodical:	Anthropology Southern Africa (ISSN 2332-3264)
Volume:	39
Issue:	2
Pages:	131-144
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	indigenous peoples genetics research
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2016.1168267
Abstract:	This paper discusses the articulation and complex enactment of postcolonial indigeneity, commonly referred to as Khoesan revivalism in contemporary South Africa. Through a close examination of the 'substances of indigeneity' i.e. body casts, human remains and DNA, it interrogates the partial imbrication of past and present scientific and classificatory practices with contemporary political and affective identifications. It argues that, in this constellation, the indigenous does not signify a stable point of reference or remnant of the past, but rather a subject position that is actively claimed and enacted in the present. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]