Josh Steffen, Post #2

When I first read the "Venus Hottentot" poem, I did not quite understand what was going on, but after some research, the viewing the documentary on Sara Baartman, and discussing everything as a class, I realized the extent and historical significance of human exhibition, dismemberment, and dissection. It was shocking and inhumane to me that something like this occurred, and I would not want to wish it on anyone. I also felt that the poem and the documentary complemented each other well, and allowed us to have reinforcement and better discussion. As I mentioned in class, the Western Europeans felt justified in doing human exhibition as they promoted colonial domination, and believed "non whites" needed to be disciplined and taught how to be civilized. While this seems barbaric and ridiculous in my eyes, this was unfortunately thought to be "right" during that time period in history. Hopefully we will never see something like this again.