The Life and Times of Sara Baartman
1998•53m•8.0•Released
Documentary
In 1810, 20 year old Sara Baartman got on a boat from Cape Town to London, unaware that she would never see her home again, or that she would become the icon of racial inferiority and black female sexuality for the next 100 years. Four years later, she became the object of scientific research that formed the bedrock of European ideas about BFS. She died the next year, but even after her death, Sara remained an object of imperialist scientific investigation. In the name of Science, her sexual organs and brain were preserved and displayed in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris until as recently as 1985. Using historical drawings, cartoons, legal documents, and interviews with noted cultural historians and anthropologists, this documentary deconstructs the social, political, scientific, and philosophical assumptions that transformed one young woman into a representation of savage sexuality and racial inferiority.
Director
Zola Maseko
Languages
Afrikaans, English
Studio
France•3
Cast
Zola Maseko
Adrian Brown
Hlengiwe Farasani
Production
Company
France•3
Company
Mail & Guardian Television
Company
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
Company
Dominant 7
Company
PROCIREP
Company
CNC
Company
MEDIA Programme of the European Union
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