Representation and Black Womanhood The Legacy of Sarah Baartman
Sarah Baartman’s iconic status as the "Hottentot Venus" - as "victimized" African woman, "Mother" of the new South Africa, and ancestral spirit to countless women of the African Diaspora - has led to countless essays, biographies, films, interviews, art i
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Representation and Black Womanhood The Legacy of Sarah Baartman Edited by
Natasha Gordon-Chipembere
REPRESENTATION AND BLACK WOMANHOOD
Copyright © Natasha Gordon-Chipembere, 2011. All rights reserved. “Six Women of Color.” Permission granted by Angela Hayden. “Nomshado, Queensgate Parktown, 2007.” Permission granted by Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Michael Stevenson, Cape Town. “I’ve come to take you home.” Permission granted by Diana Ferrus. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29798-6 ISBN 978-0-230-33926-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230339262 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Representation and Black womanhood : the legacy of Sarah Baartman / edited by Natasha Gordon-Chipembere. p. cm. 1. Baartman, Sarah. 2. Baartman, Sarah—Influence. 3. Women, Khoikhoi—Biography. 4. Women, Black—Race identity. 5. Women, Black, in art. 6. Racism in museum exhibits. I. Gordon-Chipembere, Natasha, 1970– DT1768.K56B37 2011 305.48⬘8961—dc22 [B]
2011011006
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: August 2011 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the reasons my soul smiles, Aminata, Jabulani, and Masauko
Moving from silence into speech is for the oppressed, the colonized, the exploited, and those who stand and struggle side by side a gesture of defiance that heals, that makes new life and new growth possible. It is the act of speech, of “talking back,” that is no mere gesture of empty words; that is the expression of our movement from object to subjectthe liberated voice. bell hooks
Contents Acknowledgments
ix
Prelude: “I’ve come to take you home” by Diana Ferrus
xi
Introduction: Claiming Sarah Baartman, a Legacy to Grasp Natasha Gordon-Chipembere
1
Part One The Archive: Disrupting the Colonial Narrative One
Two
“Body” of Evidence: Saartjie Baartman and the Archive Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu “My Tongue Softens On That Other Name”: Poetry, People, and Plants in Sarah Bartmann’s Natural World Yvette Abrahams / Khib Omsis
Three “Rude” Performances: Theorizing Agency Hershini Bhana Young Four
Five
17
31 47
Baartman and the Private: How Can We Look at a Figure that Has Been Looked at Too Much? Gabeba Baderoon
65
Placing and Replacing “The Venus Hottentot”: An Archeology of Pornography, Race, and Power Sheila Smith McKoy
85
Part Two Troubling the “Truth”: Corporeal Representations Six
Writing Baartman’s Ag
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