Human Evolution in Backwaters, Satellites, and Republics: How Political Change Impacts Paleoanthropology in a Shifting Landscape of Winners and Losers

We argue that geopolitical hegemonies support certain topical and methodological foci in science and, in this regard, genetics is ascendant. How do scientists from Croatia and Central Asia (or those who study these regions) negotiate relationships with the new superpower and still maintain their independence and the particular characteristics of their paleoanthropological records? Whose evolution are we attempting to explain?