Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus
Crais, Clifton and Scully, Pamela. Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography, Princeton: Princeton University Press,
Crais, C. & Scully, P. (). Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Crais, C. and Scully, P. Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Crais, Clifton and Scully, Pamela. Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
Crais C, Scully P. Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press;
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I have long wanted to talk about Sarah Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus or the Black Venus. This Black woman was promised a life of fortune, taken to Europe as a slave to be exhibited naked to men and women around Europe just because of her physique, the physique of a Black woman. Her life was that of humiliation, prostitution, and slavery of another name. Her story is a very hard one to hear when you are a Black woman, when you love Black women, or when you love women in life was not that of a Venus, but rather that of a sex slave and zoo animal being exposed naked all the time, and raped by men who dreamt of “trying” this Black Venus. She was displayed as a freak because of her unusual physical features, studied, dissected after death and will only finally be put to rest years after her death.
Sawtche, from her real name, was born in in the Eastern Cape, of modern-day South Africa. Her father was from the Khoikhoi tribe, and her mother came from the Bushmen or San tribe, the oldest tribe in Southern Africa. Women from that tribe are known to have a lighter skin tone, with very developed hips. In the Khoi tribe, it is a sign of beauty, but to Europea
The significance of Sarah Baartman
Baartman's promoters nicknamed her the "Hottentot Venus", with "hottentot" - now seen as derogatory - then being used in Dutch to describe the Khoikhoi and San, who together make up the peoples known as the Khoisan.
The British Empire had abolished the slave trade in , but not slavery itself. Even so, campaigners were appalled at Baartman's treatment in London. Her employers were prosecuted for holding Baartman against her will, but not convicted, with Baartman herself testifying in their favour.
"The question remains - was Baartman coerced, as abolitionist/humanitarian campaigners claimed, or was she acting on her own free will?" says Christer Petley, a history lecturer at Southampton University. "If she was coerced, she might have felt too intimidated to tell the truth in court. We'll never know.
"The case is complex and the relationship between Baartman and her handlers was certainly not equally weighted, even if she had some element of choice or felt she could gain something - material or otherwise - from her performance."
Holmes says Baartman's show also included danci
Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography - Softcover
From the Back Cover
"Finally, an authoritative account of the mythologized life of Sara Baartman. The meticulously researched subject comes to life in the hands of historians Crais and Scully, who skillfully negotiate the pitfalls of writing historical biography. The authors make a delicate distinction between the woman, Sara Baartman, and the iconic Hottentot Venus, in this elegantly written, passionate, compassionate, and carefully contextualized study, in which their findings are nevertheless unflinchingly presented. Magnificent--an outstanding contribution to South African culture, past and present."--Zo� Wicomb, author of You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town
"Crais and Scully have produced a definitive study of Sara Baartman and the many lives of the so-called Hottentot Venus. This is a wonderful book that has both intellectual interest and emotional power--I think it will be established as the authoritative account."--Elizabeth Elbourne, McGill University
"An eloquently written story demonstrating meticulous archival research, this book makes an important contribution to scholarly debates
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