Description
This paper was originally presented as the first in the Sol Plaatje Lecture Series on Africa, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Education and the Africa Human Genome Initiative at the Iziko South African Museum in November 2002. In it the author Soodyall addresses the contribution towards the generation of knowledge concerning the evolutionary history of humankind made by genetic approaches to anthropological questions. She examines the use and relevance of genetic data as another "tool" in the reconstruction of our history.

About the Author
Dr Himla Soodyall is the director of the Human Genome Diversity and Disease Research Unit, jointly run by the Medical Research Council, National Health Laboratory Service and the University of the Witwatersrand and has been the recipient of several awards. Her research focuses on the value of incorporating population history when mapping and modeling human genetic variation in health and disease. More specifically, on explaining the demographic and evolutionary processes responsible for producing the complex patterns of genetic variation in sub-Saharan and Malagasy populations.