Whose science? What knowledge? Science, rationality and literacy in Africa

Abstract

Drawing on the intersection between philosophy and science, this chapter demonstrates the diversity of influences on the development of public communication of science studies in South Africa. The chapter is in five sections. Section 1 contextualizes the lack of development of science communication in the South African past against the progressive notion of modernity that excluded the so-called 'primitive' African knowledge systems. Section 2 looks at the colonial efforts of the British. Section 3 shows how segregation was implemented by the Afrikaners during the apartheid regime and section 4 examines post apartheid reconstruction. Section 5 details current efforts to popularize and communicate science.