AKA: Sarah Baartman, The Hottentot Venus, and Black Women’s Identity

Henderson, Carol E.

doi:10.1080/00497878.2014.938191

Cited by 28 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…I imagine Baartman up there in the sky, flirting with the soft clouds, smiling brilliantly under the sun. She was brought to London in 1810 and then to France in 1814 to become an object of pseudoscience on Black female sexuality, she died just a year later (Henderson, 2014; Netto, 2005). She only lasted 5 years in Europe and passed away at 24.…”

Section: Impossible Binaries Of Sexualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…She was a teenager from the KhoiKhoi tribe, peaceful African herders nearly annihilated by the Dutch (Holmes, 2007). Upon her death, French scientists dissected her genitals and put them on display in Musee de l’Homme in Paris until 1985; it wasn’t until 2002 that her remains were sent back to South Africa (Henderson, 2014; Netto, 2005). Baartman’s voluptuous figure was exoticized in 19th-century Europe and still are today in our contemporary narratives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Co-Performance of Radical Change: Venus Hottentot, Slut Shaming, and Sexual Violence

Stephenson

2017

Qualitative Inquiry

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Sara Baartman (“Venus Hottentot”) was a curvaceous South African teenager lured to Europe to perform for audiences in 1810—her genitals and brain posthumously dissected, pickled, and museumized. As researcher and playwright, reflexivity on my power is not enough. I use co-performance as theory and method to unravel my story with Baartman’s to share power and problematize how Western culture shames women for their sexuality. I call upon Anzaldúa and Brody to stand for gender ambiguity and freedom in the world, for binaries of sexual desire are unsustainable and sexual purity impossible because women are sexual beings.

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Section: Impossible Binaries Of Sexualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Co-Performance of Radical Change: Venus Hottentot, Slut Shaming, and Sexual Violence

Stephenson

2017

Qualitative Inquiry

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“…Instead, it is the core text already infused with meaning. (p. 114) Henderson (2014) concurs, writing that "the black woman's body is always public-always exposed. This positioning complicates any attempt on the black woman's part to assert agency over her life, her person, her body" (p. 952).…”

Section: Tanisha Yvette Miriam Shelly Darnisha Malissa Alesia Shantelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remember, Me: An Interlocking Narrative of Black Women’s Past and Present

Ferdinand

2017

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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This is a postcolonial autoethnography that explores the historical and contemporary plight of African American women. Specifically, it uses narrative and performative writing to demonstrate how both groups operate within similar systems of domination, leading to their existence as a disenfranchised, liminal group. By bridging the past with the present, the author draws a parallel between the lives of contemporary Black women and their historical predecessors, thereby showing the connection between seemingly disparate historical events. Furthermore, this essay examines the author’s particular location as a diasporic subject, exploring how she exists in an illusion of freedom, and with a disjointed subjectivity. Summarily, this essay examines larger issues of race, gender, and the identity politics of the diasporic subject, all in an effort to show how the past is recapitulated into the present. It offers a more nuanced way of thinking about the past, present, and the future.

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“…The theoretical and conceptual purpose of this study is to use objectification theory to explain experiences of Black women and Saartjie Baartman to establish scholarship that address the commodification of Black women where Black women who may enjoy their status as a sex symbol who are autonomous and have agency over their body as an economic resource. While considering Baartman's life experience this paper argues that some Black women today may willfully engage in modest reflections of Baartman's experience by revealing the very parts she tried to cover for economic gain (Henderson, 2010(Henderson, , 2014. Thus, they operate as liberated, sovereign, consenting individuals that may use their bodies to increase economic outcomes and make the decisions and choices they desire.…”

Section: This Study: Complicating Black Women Through the Lens Of Baartmanmentioning

confidence: 99%

#ModernBaartmans: Black Women’s Reimagining of Saartjie Baartman

Ashley

2021

Journal of Black Studies

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The purpose of this study is to understand Black women’s recollection and representation of Saartjie Baartman in comparison to their own body image, while also aligning their interpretation of Baartman’s legacy through contemporary reflections of themselves and others. Interviews with 30 Black women in South Africa ( n = 15) and the United States ( n = 15) reveal that accurate knowledge and perceptions of Baartman’s experience varies; Baartman’s body is remembered as trope and ideal object to compare; however, Black women find resilience and positivity in Baartman’s story. These findings although some consistent with previous literature, some are inconsistent. Considering the Black women in this study did not thematically discuss experiencing dissatisfaction, self-objectification, or self-surveillance. It is important to recognize Black women’s perceptions of their bodies as resilient and positive rather than dissatisfied. This research provides important information for the furtherance of positive body image and Black women relative to the curvaceous ideal.

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AKA: Sarah Baartman, The Hottentot Venus, and Black Women’s Identity

Cited by 28 publications

References 11 publications

A Co-Performance of Radical Change: Venus Hottentot, Slut Shaming, and Sexual Violence

A Co-Performance of Radical Change: Venus Hottentot, Slut Shaming, and Sexual Violence

Remember, Me: An Interlocking Narrative of Black Women’s Past and Present

#ModernBaartmans: Black Women’s Reimagining of Saartjie Baartman

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