I rather expected to find at least one fairness blogpost inspired by a recent trip to South Africa, famously the most unequal country in the world, with a Gini index of 63 according to the World Bank. It is such a beautiful nation with such stunning natural resources that it isn’t surprising it was here that humankind first flourished to the extent that it was able to create art and culture for the first time. Despite its challenges, it is impossible not to be filled with hope when one experiences the beauty of the country and the energy of its people.
As it happened, the inspiration came from a visit to award-winning heritage centre !Khwa ttu, which talks about itself as the ‘embassy’ of the San of Southern Africa (a visit is strongly recommended for the wonderful spirit of the place, for the museum, and also for the restaurant – and indeed for the courtyard delightfully filled with the nests, noise and display performances of weaver birds). The San are one of the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa, and have long been subject to scientific study because their hunter-gatherer traditions are seen by many as a window on humankind’s ancient past.
It turns out that I have written about at least some of the San people previously. The Ju|’hoansi, the Namibian tribe where successful hunters are teased so as to maintain social cohesion, are one of the larger remaining San communities, some 16,000 among the 111,000 total*. All the San were horribly mistreated in the colonial era and continue to face the ongoing consequences of mistreatment.
A portion of !Khwa ttu is given over to the San Code of Research Ethics, a notable 2017 document written in response to historic and regular exploitation of the San by some of the scientific researchers that they encountered. It has a number of key segments, notably Justice and Fairness – but the Code overall provides strong evidence of much unfair treatment in the past. It had a lengthy 25-year gestation period as the San built the institutional capacity to hold researchers more effectively to account. There is an aspiration that the Code can be a model for other communities to enable them to short-circuit the 25-year process and thereby gain fairer treatment from any researchers they face.
The Code includes some expectations that seem deceptively limited but reveal the extent of the mistreatment of the San people in the past. Most stark amongst them are the following disheartening examples in the Respect portion of the Code:
- “Respect requires that promises made by researchers need to be met.”
- “Respectful researchers engage with us in advance of carrying out research.”
- “Failure by researchers to meet their promises to provide feedback is an example of disrespect which is encountered frequently.”
And the opening of the Honesty portion is especially striking:
“We require honesty from all those who come to us with research proposals.”
A core section of the Code is Justice and Fairness, which also begins with a fundamentally simple expectation: “We require justice and fairness in research.” The last portion of this section is among the most powerful:
“We have encountered lack of justice and fairness in many instances in the past. These include theft of San traditional knowledge by researchers. At the same time, many companies in South Africa and globally are benefitting from our traditional knowledge in sales of indigenous plant varieties without benefit sharing agreements, proving the need for further compliance measures to ensure fairness.”t’s sad that such basic aspects of fairness need to be expressed, particularly in a document that’s seen as an innovative model for others to follow
It’s sad that such basic aspects of fairness need to be articulated, particularly in a document that’s seen as an innovative model for others to follow.
The San make a reciprocal promise: “The San commit to engaging fairly with researchers and manage effectively all stages of the research process, as their resources allow.”
Fairness, and reciprocal fairness, seems very little to ask, but it has transparently not been delivered in the past. It is but one of the unfairnesses that the San have suffered over the years. They deserve more, and our understanding of humankind’s past will be all the better for respecting the Code that expects it. The Ju|’hoansi, and all the San, still have much to teach us.
* Note: having the benefit of my visit to !Khwa ttu I now know that I previously mis-spelled the Ju|’hoansi’s name – for which apologies. When I gave the talk on which that prior blogpost was based I also apologised for the quality of my clicks. I now know that the | represents a dental click, created by placing the tip of the tongue on the back of the front teeth and pulling the tongue back sharply. The ‘ indicates that the speaker should pause briefly. I’m learning.
See also: Fairness – the human lens for addressing our current challenges
The San Code of Research Ethics, South African San Institute, 2017
The San Code of Research Ethics: Its Origins and History, South African San Institute, 2019
The Sense of Fairness blog 