Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Science
- The Cambridge History of Science
- The Cambridge History Of Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors’ Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Transnational, International, and Global
- Part II National and Regional
- Europe
- Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia
- 23 Middle East
- 24 India
- 25 Maghreb of North Africa
- 26 Sub-Saharan Africa
- 27 Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia: A Commentary
- East and Southeast Asia
- United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania
- Latin America
- Index
26 - Sub-Saharan Africa
from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2020
- The Cambridge History of Science
- The Cambridge History of Science
- The Cambridge History Of Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors’ Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Transnational, International, and Global
- Part II National and Regional
- Europe
- Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia
- 23 Middle East
- 24 India
- 25 Maghreb of North Africa
- 26 Sub-Saharan Africa
- 27 Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia: A Commentary
- East and Southeast Asia
- United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania
- Latin America
- Index
Summary
For the past several hundred years, Western science has helped shape the terms on which Europeans encountered and envisioned Africa and Africans. European preoccupations with the germ theory, what Michael Adas has called a European “machine ideology” arising from Western scientific and technological developments, the rise of scientific racism, and the “civilizing mission,” for example, as well as scientific interest in the archaeological, geological, and biological wealth of Africa have all influenced how Westerners have interacted with Africa and Africans. Moreover, belief in their own expertise and in the universal character of science led many Western scientists to believe that they could export Western science unmodified to Africa.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of Science , pp. 495 - 509Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020