Who is saartjie baartman

Sadly her freak show display continued macabrely after her death. Although Cuvier did not perform an autopsy on Sarah, he did make a plaster cast of her body before dissecting it. Her organs, genitalia, and buttocks were thought to be evidence of her sexual primitivism and intellectual equality with that of an orangutan. She was buried on August 9, , over years after her birth. Sarah is the first documented Khoisan to arrive in Europe and, although much of her story has been lost, over the years she has come to be seen as the epitome of colonial exploitation , racism, and commodification of black people.

We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements. To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK". Sign Up. Travel Guides. Videos Beyond Hollywood Hungerlust Pioneers of love. Gill Lange. How she got the name Sarah. Her early years. The making of Hottentot Venus.

The freak show. Curiosity turns to perversity. The story blurs. A twist in popular perception. The struggle to get Sarah home. Give us feedback. Read Next View. The Dorr Guesthouse. Skip to main content Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience. Read more about our cookie policy Accept and close the cookie policy. Details individual; South African; Female. Life dates Biography A Khoikhoi woman from South Africa; the so-called 'Hottentot Venus' was brought to Europe in and exhibited in Britain and France where she died of smallpox at the end of A cast was made of her body after her death and her skeleton and organs were preserved by the anatomist Georges Cuvier; her remains were returned to South Africa in She is portrayed in several prints held by the Museum, notably satires which can be traced in George's 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Sartje and in De Vinck.

Her life has been discussed extensively in literature relating to colonialism, racism and sexism see bibliography. Bibliography Dictionary of National Biography P. Altick, 'The Shows of London', , pp. Would her image represent a reviled past or a canvas of resilience? Were they proud to bear a similar buttocks or ashamed to share a similar stature? Showmen exhibited her throughout Europe, where, in an embarrassing and dehumanizing spectacle, she was forced to sing and dance before crowds of white onlookers.

Often naked in these exhibitions, Baartman was sometimes suspended in a cage on stage while being poked, prodded and groped. Her body was characterized as grotesque, lascivious and obscene because of her protruding buttocks, which was due to a condition called steatopygia that occurs naturally among people in arid parts of southern Africa.