Frank DiMaria Post #2

So, for my second blog I wanted to elaborate on the point I made in class regarding the Venus Hottentot. As I said, I think the treatment of Baartman is terrible. It’s so sad to hear about her life. It seems that she was completely misguided and taken advantage of. She left her country, in my opinion, seeking a better life and the possibility of riches for herself and family. When I hear the descriptions of her treatment I cringe and feel so sorry for her life. But, I also want to address the historical context happening. We as a modern audience look at what Cuvier did as a terrible thing. He did indeed exploit her, but was what he doing wrong when put into context of the time period? Again, looking at the account from a modern standpoint I don’t think the treatment of Baartman was right, however I feel that we need to address the fact that there was a shift in thinking during this time period. This time period was fueled by the Enlightenment (The Age of Reason). People were looking to make meaning of the world around themselves through science and rational thought. So, with this in mind, was Cuvier wrong in what he did? He was not the only person to be doing such experiments, and of course I am playing devils advocate, but I feel that it’s important to see both sides of the coin. We as a modern audience have a tendency, rightfully in this situation, to see the treatment of Baartman as wrong. But, this time period would disagree. They had never seen someone like Baartman before and wanted to make sense of who or what she was. Also, though the treatment was not right, it was accepted to question a native as being an animal and piece of property. And, this notion didn’t have to do with a religious aspect. There is a difference in early whites coming to America and feeling that they were better than Indians and Blacks, compared to scientific racism. When we deal with the religious aspect it needs to be addressed that the people felt that God made them superior and that it was their job to make the lives of natives better and to civilize them to His will. But if we say that religion caused racism we are generalizing. People initially came to America to have religious freedom and were of many different beliefs and sects of the church. From a scientific standpoint I don’t know if scientists like Cuvier were wrong in wanting to know more about the world around them. They were wrong in how they represented Baartman, which serves as a foreground for scientific racism, but I do feel it’s important to evaluate one, the time period and two, ourselves as a modern audience.