Who is Sarah Baartman? Give a brief description and relate some aspect of
her life (or her contexts/situation) to something discussed either in
class or in the reading that interests you.
Sarah Baartman, also known as Saarjtie Baartman, was a South African woman who was given the title, "The Hottentot Venus" and was exhibited in Europe between 1810 to 1815. She was chosen to be exhibited due to her unusually large buttocks, and the European scientists reasoned it was a sign of her 'excessive sexuality.' After Baartman's death, French scientist Georges Cuvier anatomically removed her genitals and is currently preserved to this very day in Paris' Museum of Man. In "David's Story", the character David named her one of the "queens of Steatopygia" (p. 16) and discussed the historical figure in details with his amanuensis that Baartman had to endure being caged with leopard skins in London and was ridiculed by the Europeans because of her unique bodily structure. His storytelling was an attempt to evoke sympathy for the exhibited woman because he said, "Baartman belongs to all of us."
In "History After Apartheid", Annie Coombes stated that the exhibited figure was an "iconic symbol of dispossession of Khoisan peoples" (p. 240) and the Griqua and Khoisan groups want to bring back what was once theirs; they want Baartman's remains to return to their homeland. Martin Engelbrecht, a researcher for the Khoisan Representative Council said, "We want to know about the study of our skeleton. We need to benefit from knowledge" (p. 241). As an outsider, I think it is more than justified that the parts of Baartman should return to South Africa because she is after all in living spirits of the country. I am not sure if there was a written agreement between Cuvier and Baartman about her bodily dissection, but I doubt that she wanted her remains to be publicly exposed at such an institution. Even other people besides South Africans wants Baartman to return by rallying through the use of international publicized campaigning efforts such as Zola Maseko's film titled "The Life and Times of Sara Baartman", the World Archaeological Congress conference held in Cape Town, and Spain's "El Negro" organized efforts. However, Paris' denial of her return and keeping of her remains shows us that they still want to hold onto any power whatsoever, and does not at all respect the wish of Baartman's people.
