Rev. Dr. Olufemi Olayinka Oluniyi (1948-2021) was Executive Director of the Centre for Values and Social Change in Lagos, Nigeria, which he founded. Author of Reconciliation in Northern Nigeria: The Space for Public Apology, he was involved in peace, reconciliation, and social justice efforts in Africa for many years, and he had a particular interest in how European colonial policies toward Africa were shaped by Social Darwinism. Dr. Oluniyi was a C.S. Lewis Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in the summer of 2017, and he appeared as one of the featured experts in the Institute’s award-winning documentary Human Zoos: America’s Forgotten History of Scientific Racism.
Charles Darwin fathered not just a scientific theory, but a toxic social ideology that fueled racist colonial policies in Africa. In this sobering book, African scholar Olufemi Oluniyi traces the insidious impact of Darwinian ideas on British imperial policies in Northern Nigeria. Drawing on official documents, public statements, and well-attested historical events, Oluniyi documents how concepts such as evolutionary racism and survival of the fittest were systematically used to demean black Africans, consigning some people to a status of permanent inferiority. Rejecting Social Darwinism, Oluniyi makes a compelling argument for the equality of all human beings, and for recognizing Africa’s many seminal contributions to the history of human civilization. Praise Ideas rule the …
