“Sara” - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

“Sara” Saartjie Baartman The Venus Hottentot

By Christina SchoenwandtSlide2

From Birth…Born in (approximately) 1789 and lived until 1815Born to the Khoikhoi Tribe of South Africa, near the

Gamtoos riverShe was born into a cattle-herding

Gonaquasub

group of the Khoikhoi

Gamtoos

riverSlide3

Short background of the Khoikhoi PeopleStemmed from the “San” tribe (approximately) 2300 BP (Before

Present), Which is now modern day Botswana. They were the first pastoralists in southern Africa, and called themselves Khoikhoi (or

Khoe

), which means 'men of men' or 'the real people

'.

first native people to come into contact with the Dutch settlers in the mid 17th centuryAs the Dutch took over land for farms, the Khoikhoi were dispossessed, exterminated, or enslaved and therefore their numbers dwindled

The Khoikhoi were called the ‘Hottentots’ by European settlers because the sound of their language was so different from any European languageSlide4

Description of Women of the KhoikhoiHave a characteristic “full” figureMeaning large breasts, wide hips, and

Elongated labia Flat, wide, nosesNotably sculpted cheekbones Slide5

Elongated labiaKnown as the “khoikhoi apron” or

“hottentot apron”labia minora, hanging up to four inches outside their

vulva

This trait was first noted as far back as the 17th century, but became extensively documented in the last part of the 18th and the 19th

century

considered to be part of the inferior race, being that the superior race (whites), had "normal" sized labiaLabia may also be shaped by intentional labia stretching, usually done by an aunt on girls beginning at the age of four or fiveSlide6

Saartjie Baartman’s youthgrew up on a colonial farm where her family most probably worked as

servantsHer mother died when she was aged two and her father, who was a cattle driver, died when she reached

adolescence

Took to marring

a Khoikhoi man,

who was a drummerthey had one child together, whom died shortly after birthWhen she was sixteen years old

her fiancé was murdered by Dutch colonistsVery soon after, she was sold into slavery to a trader named Pieter Willem Cezar

took

her to Cape Town where she became a domestic servant to his

brother

It was during this time that she was given the name ‘

Saartjie’, a Dutch diminutive for SaraSlide7

Voyaging to England and Ireland On 29 October 1810, Sara allegedly ‘signed’ a contract with an English ship surgeon named William Dunlop who was also a friend of Cezar and his brother

HendrikTerms of the contract entitled her travel with Dunlop to England and

Ireland, working

as

a domestic servant and be exhibited for entertainment

purposesShe was to receive a ‘portion of earnings’ from her exhibitions and be allowed to return to South Africa after five yearsSlide8

Why is it unlikely she actually signed a contract…#1- she was illiterate and came from a cultural tradition that did not write or keep records#2- the

Cezar families experienced financial woes and it is suspected that they used Sara to earn moneySlide9

What was the fascination Sara Baartman’s large buttocks and unusual coloring

made her the object of fascination by the colonial Europeanscolonial Europeans presumed

that they were racially

superior and that they were viewing a lower evolution of man; closer to our ancestry to apes

Drew so much

attention that She was taken to London where she was displayed in a building in Piccadilly, a street that was full of various oddities

Piccadilly

street, 1800’s Slide10

Piccadilly street Piccadilly Circus did not become official until 1819, but was a location with various venders and street side showsvarious oddities like “the ne plus ultra of hideousness” and “the greatest deformity in the world

”Englishmen and women paid to see Sara’s half naked body displayed in a cage that was about a meter and half highSlide11

Her neighbors- The Sapient PigToby the “Learned pig”Captivated audiences with his promises to “spell and read, cast accounts, play at cards; tell any person what o’clock it is to a minute by their own watch” as well as “tell the age of any one in company’, and, most remarkably, ‘discover a person’s thoughts

’”

“The Only Scholar of His Race.” Slide12

Her neighbors-Prince Kar-mi

Prince Kar-mi (Real Name: Joseph Hollingsworth)

he honed his show down to a fast-paced and breathtaking fifteen minutes of quick magic

illusions

with several signature tricks that he invented himself, including "Selma", an illusion that involved cremating and reviving his female assistant, and "Shooting a Cracker from a Man's Head", a sharpshooting

trickalso learned the art of tattooing. Between his shows, he would set up a temporary tattoo parlor, and earn extra money etching the skins of eager customersSlide13

Ending of slavery in Britain After four years in London, in September 1814, she was transported from England to

FranceHendrik Cezar sold her Reaux

, a man who showcased

animals

exhibited her around Paris and reaped financial benefits from the public’s fascination with Sara’s

bodyHer “trainer” would order her to sit or stand in a similar way that circus animals are orderedAt times Baartman was displayed almost completely naked, wearing little more than a tan

loinclothAt this point she was nicknamed “Hottentot Venus”Slide14

On Display in life Slide15
Slide16

On Displayed in lifeHer constant display attracted the attention of George Cuvier, a naturalistHe asked Reaux if he would allow Sara to be studied as a science specimen to which

Reaux agreedAs from March 1815 Sara was studied by French anatomists, zoologists and

physiologists

Cuvier concluded that she was a link between animals and

humans

Sara was used to help emphasize the stereotype that Africans were oversexed and a lesser raceSlide17

Georges Cuvier’s Notes on Sara She spoke native tongue,

fluent Dutch, passable English, and FrenchGeorges Cuvier described her as “intelligent woman with an excellent memory, particularly for faces” as well as her shoulders and back as "graceful", arms "slender", hands and feet as "charming" and "

pretty“

She playing the

“Jew's harp”

danced according to the traditions of her country, and had a lively personalityHe thought her small ears were similar to those of an orangutan and also compared her vivacity, when alive, to the quickness of a monkey

Jew's harpSlide18

After DeathSara Baartman died in 1816 at the age of 26It is unknown whether she died from alcoholism, smallpox or

pneumoniaCuvier obtained her remains from local police and dissected her bodyHe made a plaster cast of her body, pickled her brain and genitals and placed them into

jars

She was on display

at the

Musée del'Homme(Museum of Man) until 1974It

wasn’t until the sixth of March 2002 Sara Baartman

was brought back home to South Africa where she was buried Slide19

Musée del'Hommeanthropology museum in Paris, France

established in 1937 by Paul RivetHome to “cabinets of curiosities” and “Royal Cabinet

”

that aim to defines the human being