Africa’s status as the Cradle of Humankind holds little importance to its inhabitants, and the pursuit of Darwinian evolution of human origins remains largely a foreign-framed epistemological enterprise. Three genesis narratives are found in the continent: the exogenous religions of Islam and Christianity, Darwinian evolutionary science, and traditional origins myths. Even though both the earliest human ancestors and modern humans first appeared in Africa, many Africans reject Darwinian science due to colonialism, scientific racism, and misinformation. Efforts at community engagement in research projects have had limited success. What have paleoanthropologists done or can do to i) mitigate this situation? and ii) incorporate local knowledge and skills in human evolution projects?
The conference seeks to foster discussion on origins syncretism, the place of Africa’s indigenous origins narratives, multivocality, knowledge co-production, and mean-making in African prehistory research. In this gathering, Africanist and diaspora scholars will engage in dialogue critical to what an African Cradle of Humankind means to researchers and communities. We therefore invite presentations on field research projects and theoretical perspectives that address holistic approaches to human origins research in the continent of Africa.