In the late 18th century, Sarah Baartman was working as a slave in Cape
Town, South Africa, when she was discovered by a British doctor.
Intrigued by her unusually large buttocks and genitals, he persuaded her
to accompany him to London. Once there, she was “displayed” as a
scientific curiosity.
Once the scientific community in London were tired of her, she turned to
Parisian exhibitions, and once they were also tired of her, she turned
to prostitution.
However, as a Khoikhoi woman she was considered an
anthropological freak in England, and she found herself put on
exhibition, displayed as a sexual curiosity. Dubbed The Hottentot Venus,
her image swept through British popular culture. Abolitionists
unsuccessfully fought a court battle to free her from her exhibitors. Sarah Baartman was taken to Paris in 1814 and continued to be exhibited
as a freak. She became the object of scientific and medical research
that formed the bedrock of European ideas about black female sexuality.
When she died in 1816, the Musee de l’Homme in Paris took a deathcast of
her body, removed her skeleton and pickled her brain and genitals in
jars. These were displayed in the museum until as late as 1985.
After five years of negotiating with the French authorities for the
return of Sarah Baartman remains, the South African government, together
with the Griqua National Council which represents the country’s 200 000
Griqua people, part of the Koi-San group, brought Sarah Baartman back
to South Africa. On Friday 3 May 2002, in a moving ceremony attended by
many representatives of the Khoikhoi people, Sarah Baartman was welcomed
back to Cape Town. Her final resting place is in the Eastern Cape,
where she was born.
By naming our centre after Sarah Baartman, we are remembering and
honouring a woman who has become an icon, not only to her own Khoikhoi
people, but to all women who know oppression and discrimination in their
lives.
People sometimes ask us for pictures of Sarah Baartman. We have decided
not to provide these, out of respect for her and in order not to
perpetuate her exploitation by putting her once again on display.
With regard to Sarah Baartman name, we are aware that according to her
baptism certificate (Saartjie was baptized in England), her name is
written Sara Bartmann. In most writings, she is referred to as Sarah or
Saartjie Baartman, where Saartjie is the Afrikaans diminutive of Sarah.
There is a current debate on whether Saartjie should be discarded in
favour of Sarah, as many women feel that the diminutive form of names is
infantilizing. We use Saartjie and Sarah interchangeably, while
acknowledging the Centre’s formally registered name as the Saartjie
Baartman Centre.
By the age of 25, Sarah Baartman was dead.
We can only guess that Sarah Baartman got on that ship from South Africa
thinking she was headed for a better life. We can guarantee that the
reality fell far short of her dreams. The story of Sarah Baartman is a
must read, for we cannot completely understand where we are unless we
first understand where we’ve been.
