The story of an African children’s book that explains the science of skin colour
SKIN We Are In is a landmark South African book for children (and grown-ups) on the subject of skin colour. Published in 2018, it was co-authored by an artist and a scientist, both South African luminaries – the author Sindiwe Magona and the anthropologist and palaeobiologist Nina Jablonski. Here they talk about how – and why – the book came about. NINA G. JABLONSKI, Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Penn State I had found, in the course of my work, that people knew its social significance, but they didn’t understand it. Many were convinced that there was a genetic…