Reclaiming our Black bodies: reflections on a portrait of Sarah (Saartjie) Baartman and the destruction of Black bodies by the state

Abstract

The parading of the nude body of Sarah Baartman by the British colonisers led England and France to racially categorise her as a subhuman. Her Black body was viewed as something that can be violated, exploited, destructed, penetrated, and subjugated to various inhumane conditions. According to Fanon, there is a world order that determines who fits where and how: “The colonial world is a world cut in two”. The militaristic response by the state to the people’s protest point to the fact that technology, the regimes, and the targets still remain. In this article, I will argue that the use of violence by the colonial, imperial system against Sarah Baartman (Black people) has its origins in colonialism and slavery. I maintain that there is a distinction between “a body” and “the Body”. The paper will use as basis the intersectionality theory. Conclusions will be drawn. The biggest mistake the [B]lack world ever made was to assume that whoever opposed apartheid was an ally (Biko 1987:63).