Phila M. Msimang

Here I was talking about the consequences of the changes in classifications (and who was labelled as belonging in them) for conceptualising biological studies. Our discussion focused on the use of such classifications in microbiome research.

Sounds like a good deal, no?

Faintly whispering: *but they never fought a war with the intention of being against the forces of White supremacy*

I’m looking forward to this conference by the Azanian Philosophical Society that will be hosted at Fort Hare this week.

See the full conference programme at the bottom of this page: www.theaps.org/conference-a...

We are also pleased to announce that our special issue for this event will be published by the South African Journal of Science.

Save the date! Interdisciplinary Workshop:
The Human Diversity Dilemma: Navigating the Intersection of Microbiomes, Ethics, and Society in Africa
#hpbio #histbio #philbio 🌱🐋
Check the Call for Abstracts for our special issue on our website: perspectivesrace.wixsite.com/the-human-di...

Why is English often thought to equate to literary studies more generally? I was struck by your line “Students of English do not expect to emerge from their degrees able to speak a foreign language” when English is a foreign language in most parts of the world it is taught. That feels like a tension

Yes, it illustrates the social and historical generation of the categories. It shows that these categories and classifications are not labels that we put on nature but something we have created through social processes.

This infographic is meant to show how those in power grouped people in increasingly rigid race-based ways. The aim of illustrating this history from that perspective is to provide a resource for the critique of the racial projects this has been (and continues to be) a part.

The paper will will explain the reasons for certain editorial decisions that we took (e.g., only focusing on the classifications used in the Cape Colony in the period up to 1910, how we reduced some of the complexity in representing how groups were classified, etc.)

Here is an infographic that Tessa Moll (@tessamuldvarp.bsky.social) and I made about the development of racial classifications in South Africa from 1652 to the present. A paper explaining its content is in the works. For now, feel free to download the infographic here: dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...

African Genetic Ancestry, Social Determinants, and Mortality in Black Adults This cohort study investigates the independent associations of African genetic ancestry and structural and social determinants of health with mortality among Black US adults.

New today: Iyer et al., "African Genetic Ancestry, Structural and Social Determinants of Health, and Mortality in Black Adults," jamanetwork.com/journals/jam....
Tl;dr: It's the 2nd (social determinants) that most effect the 3rd (mortality), not the 1st (genetic ancestry). Yet look where funding is!

Why Protests Should Be Promises Modern movements that aim to advance racial equity should withhold and promise, rather than perform, writes Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

"...for protests to succeed, they must be backed by movements with the ability to promise to withhold—labor, debt payments, rent payments, or consumer support—and to follow through if demands aren’t met."

Glad to have gotten the opportunity to push this line in Time

time.com/collections/...

I enjoyed giving this presentation and the discussion that followed. I am thankful for the ROTO Research Group for having me.

Please share a link to the talk if there will be a hybrid option.

Great lineup including our favorite philosophers Aline Potiron www.uu.nl/staff/AIPoti... and Phila Msimang @msimang.bsky.social. Don't miss these talks! #hpb 🐋🦠

What a view!

Here is a new blog post from our collaborative work in the CAT (Constructive Advanced Thinking) group on the history and ethics of the use and management of human remains.

Phila Msimang standing with his hands in his pockets on some stairs surrounded by green trees and shrubs.

A sunny day out and about in Stellenbosch

Trump has sanctioned SA on the basis of misinformation produced and distributed by organisations like Afriforum (who went on a roadshow in the US spreading the myth of White genocide) and the SAIRR who misrepresent issues of race & policy in SA (e.g., see here: www.researchgate.net/publication/...).

Let’s not move fast and break things: why caution is needed in our approach to heritable human genome editing (HHGE) The premature adoption of genome editing technologies like the CRISPR-Cas9 system for clinical applications will more likely lead to biomedical abuses and unintended harms due to the removal of reason...

Lawyers are lobbying for the premature adoption of heritable human genome editing in South Africa. In this blog post, I describe the situation and why this should concern us all. The risks are not limited to South Africans but extend to humanity as a whole. #BioSecurity #HHGE #HealthPolicy

Wow, this is a real game changer 😳

Had a great Gender, Race, & Science class today discussing @msimang.bsky.social's article "Prescribing Race: No Blank Scripts for Using Race & Ethnicity in Health" www.argumenta.org/wp-content/u... #philsci #MedSky #hpbio

I decided to go ahead and make a starter pack of historians, scientists, and others who work on scientific racism. If you’d like to be added to the pack (or removed from it), let me know.

go.bsky.app/E9PN3oG

We made another thing! Here is a pretty great 'HPS Starter Pack' so you too can follow all the awesome history, philosophy and social studies of science (and #metasci #histSTM #philsci #philsky #hps #histsci 🧪) accounts on Bluesky. Please share widely #academicsky :)

SciSci starter packs!

Adding a second starter pack here since we ran out of capacity with the first one: go.bsky.app/NeZvnb5

The first one can be found here: go.bsky.app/2R1E4TD
Please nominate or self-nominate with an example work.

Please share!

#AcademicSky #SciSci #SciPol #metascience

Thanks, will do!

Hello, I hope you’re well. Please can I also be added to this starter pack (I work on various issues in the philosophy of science).

Light snow on the streets of Freiburg. Some figures are seen walking or standing on the sidewalks.

Gentle bits of snow in Freiburg ❄️

Now I love epigraphs