Christa Kuljian

Christa Kuljian is a science writer and historian of science affiliated with WiSER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has established herself as a prominent voice examining how scientific knowledge intersects with social justice, gender, and racial politics through her research, writing, and public scholarship.

Her research interests focus on the historical and contemporary relationships between science and society, with particular attention to scientific racism, gender bias in scientific institutions, and medical ethics. Kuljian critically examines how colonialism, apartheid, and patriarchal structures have shaped scientific knowledge production and how these legacies continue to influence contemporary scientific practice. Her work reveals the political dimensions of seemingly objective scientific knowledge and challenges assumptions about scientific neutrality.

Kuljian's recent publications demonstrate a consistent scholarly trajectory examining marginalized narratives in the history of science. Her articles on the Taung child fossil discovery, Steve Biko's legacy in medical ethics, and feminist critiques of science collectively highlight how scientific institutions have historically been exclusionary and how research questions and methodologies can be biased. Her scholarship connects historical practices to current debates about diversity and inclusion in science, showing why understanding the problematic history of scientific racism and sexism is crucial for building more ethical scientific practices today.

As a Research Fellow, Kuljian has contributed significantly to public understanding of science through her books and articles. Her work with Harvard University's Schlesinger Library and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine demonstrates her engagement with major academic institutions. She actively participates in contemporary debates about the role of diversity in scientific research and has spoken about how feminist science studies has developed critical tools that ask new questions and develop methodologies to account for gender and racial bias in scientific research.