Surviving South African Apartheid
April 3, 2019 – 6:30 PM
Research Commons – 3rd Floor, 18th Avenue Library
Professor McKee lived in South Africa from 1986 to 1996, a time period spanning a ‘state of emergency’ to the end of apartheid and the beginning of a true democracy. His paleoanthropological research led him to ‘homelands’ created by ‘grand apartheid,’ where he got to know local customs and ways of life. There he witnessed the true costs of racism and bigotry, but also learned the resilience of the human spirit. This presentation is an anthropological look at apartheid, told through personal experience.
About our speaker:
Jeffrey K McKee, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University
Professor McKee got his BA degree from Miami University and his MA and PhD from Washington University (St. Louis). He then spent a decade teaching at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School (Johannesburg,South Africa) and leading excavations at the early hominin fossil sites of Taung and Makapansgat. He returned to Ohio in 1996, conducting research on paleoecology, modeling of evolutionary processes, and contemporary biodiversity and demography. He is now learning to play bass guitar.
Sponsors:
Sigma Xi – The Ohio State University Chapter
The Ohio State University Libraries