Hotentocka skóra Saartjie Baartman
The Hottentot skin of Saartjie Baartman

Summary/Abstract: While telling the story of Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman, the ‘Hottentot Venus’ who arrived in London in 1810 to be displayed there as a freak-show attraction but was also watched and investigated as a research object, I am asking questions about the underlying rationale behind those cultural practices which gave shape to the European stage of her biography. The author discusses the narratives and images, which might have influenced the stage script and the role she was to play. I consider the representation as being entangled in the period’s scientific as well as political discourse.

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