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A Tribute to Sarah Baartman: addressing the question of
human remains in heritage institutions
Download invitation to public lecture
[PDF]
On the 8th August 2007, Iziko Museums of Cape Town will celebrate
National Women's Day, 9th August. As part of our mandate to transform
heritage institutions and ethical museum practice, we as Iziko Museums
of Cape Town would like to join in commemorating and celebrating the
role that women played in the pre-1994 liberation struggle and beyond.
As we celebrate the role of women, we do so by paying a special
tribute to Sarah Baartman (The Hottentot Venus), whose life ended in
the Diaspora. Having left the African continent she appeared in London
at No 225 Piccadilly as the first exhibit from the banks of the
Gamtoos River. After many years of melancholy and longing for 'home',
in the winter of 1815, the 'Venus'' died and her human remains were
immediately studied by comparative anatomists and then later brought
back and buried with dignity in the land of her birth. Iziko Museums
of Cape Town as one of the few cultural institutions in South Africa
spearheading the process of addressing the provenance of 'unethically'
collected human remains, acknowledge the agony suffered by Sarah
Baartman and commit ourselves to the remembrance and celebration of
her life and tangible legacy.
After the demise of the colonial rule and apartheid order in South
Africa, the public discourse emanating from the question of the human
remains at cultural institutions has become the focal point of what
many critical thinkers, theorists and academics have come to term a
'decolonization' project. In its contention the project has
consequently unveiled numerous layers of discourses regarding
ownership, accessibility, representativity and the museum collections.
Among other things this public lecture is a space in which we
collectively engage with our past in an aim to create a better country
in which all of us can live respectfully and harmoniously. As a
community-driven institution, Iziko Museums of Cape Town would like to
join in one accord with many communities in remembering those women
who sacrificed their lives for the betterment of others.
We hope that at the end of the day this public lecture would have
helped us see the museum as a space of remembrance and reconciliation
among other things.
The Education and Public Programmes Department would like to invite
all members of our diverse society to join us at this commemorative
event.
For further information please feel free to contact Wandile Goozen
Kasibe, Public Programmes Coordinator on 021 481 3804/13 or 083
3356461; email:
wkasibe@iziko.org.za or
publicprogs@iziko.org.za.
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