ADDRESSING THE STATE OF TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: SOLUTIONS TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE DISCIPLINE

Transformation can be loosely defined as a complete change from the current state. It is a context-based, open-ended notion which signifies change of formfrom an original state (DuPreez, Simmonds and Verhoef 2016). Transformation in post-1994 democratic South Africa includes the goal of eradicating the socio-economic inequalities inherent within the apartheid system in order to create a more inclusive and fair society (Badat 2010). Various scholars have written on the topic of transformation of South African archaeology and palaeontology (inter alia Ndlovu 2009; Ndlovu and Smith 2019; Wadley 2013), and others have comparatively studied the nature of the field pre- and post-1994 (Underhill 2011; Van der Merwe 2003; Shepherd 2003), yet no standard definition for what we mean when we talk about transformation of the palaeosciences exists.