Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman was a Khoi woman from the Eastern Cape region taken from her home in the early 1800s under false pretences at the age of twenty- years- old. She was trafficked on a ship to Europe and put on display in freak shows in London before being sold to an animal trainer in France in 1814 where she died barely a year later of disease and homesickness. After her death, a plaster cast of her body was made, which was then dissected and her brain and genitalia were preserved in formalin and put on display. The humiliating and gruesome mutilation, display and objectification of her body in Europe became fuel for the justification of racial science that would rise to prominence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with her body perceived by many European scientists of the time as “the missing link between man and ape.” The renaming of the Sarah Baartman Hall from its previous colonial name, Jameson Hall, formed an important part of the decolonial project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and pays respect to the ancestral grounds the university is built on as well as the legacy of colonialism which continues to plague many indigenous communities today. The process of renaming the hall was led by Dr. Bam alongside the Naming of Buildings Committee (NOBC), the /Xarre Restorative Justice Forum, Prof. Loretta Feris (previous Vice Chancellor of Transformation), Dr. Max Price (previous Vice Chancellor) and Dr. Russell Ally (previous executive director of the Development and Alumni Department). With the Khoekhoegowab Language Course graduation ceremony held in the hall, the First Nations ancestors of the university’s site was honoured, homage was paid to the legacy of Sarah Baartman and countless other indigeous women who were victims of colonialism as well as to the waterfall that once flowed down the site where the Sarah Baartman Hall is located today.

About this item

Full Name
Sarah Baartman
Given Name
Sarah
Family Name
Baartman
Alternate Name
Hottentot Venus
Saartjie Baartman
Sara Baartman
Biography
Sarah Baartman was a Khoi woman from the Eastern Cape region taken from her home in the early 1800s under false pretences at the age of twenty- years- old. She was trafficked on a ship to Europe and put on display in freak shows in London before being sold to an animal trainer in France in 1814 where she died barely a year later of disease and homesickness. After her death, a plaster cast of her body was made, which was then dissected and her brain and genitalia were preserved in formalin and put on display. The humiliating and gruesome mutilation, display and objectification of her body in Europe became fuel for the justification of racial science that would rise to prominence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with her body perceived by many European scientists of the time as “the missing link between man and ape.” The renaming of the Sarah Baartman Hall from its previous colonial name, Jameson Hall, formed an important part of the decolonial project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and pays respect to the ancestral grounds the university is built on as well as the legacy of colonialism which continues to plague many indigenous communities today. The process of renaming the hall was led by Dr. Bam alongside the Naming of Buildings Committee (NOBC), the /Xarre Restorative Justice Forum, Prof. Loretta Feris (previous Vice Chancellor of Transformation), Dr. Max Price (previous Vice Chancellor) and Dr. Russell Ally (previous executive director of the Development and Alumni Department). With the Khoekhoegowab Language Course graduation ceremony held in the hall, the First Nations ancestors of the university’s site was honoured, homage was paid to the legacy of Sarah Baartman and countless other indigeous women who were victims of colonialism as well as to the waterfall that once flowed down the site where the Sarah Baartman Hall is located today.
Nationality
South Africa
Birth Date
1789
Birth Place
Gamtoos River
Death Date
29 December 1815
Death Place
Paris
Wikidata link
Q232041
Is Referenced By
Sarah Baartman Hall
Abrahams, Y. 2000. Colonialism, dysfunction and dysjuncture : the historiography of Sarah Bartmann. University of Cape Town.
Gamtoos

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