#khoisan

[sankofaspirit]

Sara Baartman (1789–1815), also known as Saartjie Baartman, was a Khoisan woman from South Africa who became a symbol of exploitation and racial discrimination. Born in the Eastern Cape, she was a member of the Khoikhoi people. Baartman was taken to Europe under false pretences in 1810, lured by promises of wealth and a better life. Instead, she became the subject of public exhibition due to her physical features, particularly her large hips and buttocks, which European audiences regarded with a mix of fascination and derision.

In England and later France, she was displayed as part of "freak shows" and referred to as the "Hottentot Venus," a derogatory term that reflected the racist and colonial attitudes of the time. Her body was objectified and subjected to pseudoscientific scrutiny, particularly by French naturalists, who used her as a case study to perpetuate racist theories of human inferiority.

Sara Baartman died in Paris on December 29, 1815, at the age of 26, likely from pneumonia, smallpox, or syphilis. After her death, her body was dissected, and her remains, including her skeleton and preserved genitals, were displayed in French museums for over a century.

In 2002, following years of advocacy and recognition of the inhumanity she suffered, her remains were repatriated to South Africa and given a proper burial in the Eastern Cape, marking a symbolic act of restitution and respect for her legacy. Today, Sara Baartman is remembered as a tragic victim of colonial exploitation and a symbol of the struggle against racism and dehumanization.🇿🇦

[afrotumble]

Katrina Esau (87) is the last remaining South African who can speak the ancient Khoisan San language N|uu, which is said to be 25 000 years old.

Last month she published a children’s book in her mother tongue, titled '!Qhoi n|a Tjhoi' ('Tortoise & Ostrich'/'Skilpad en Volstruis').

Congratulations Katrina. 🥰😍

[kemetic-dreams]

[blackbrownfamily]

[oratilwemotlapele]

Sarwa boy playing the guitar

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Like other Khoisan ex-convicts in Van Diemen’s Land, Witnalder had no means by which he could return home. He was destitute after being discharged from the convict system and became an object of ridicule to certain elements within the local populace. On 10 September 1862, he was before the bench on yet another charge of disturbing the peace. The Police Superintendent told the bench that Witnalder was ‘constantly insulted by idle boys’. Another witness, Mr Jones, said that he had seen Witnalder ‘insulted by mischievous boys’. Despite such evidence of bullying, the Stipendary Magistrate found the prisoner guilty and fined him 1 shilling. Superintendent Propsting took pity on the man and immediately paid the fine, kindly preventing Witnalder being returned to prison (from which he had only recently been released) for defaulting. Following a similar incident in early December 1862, Witnalder appeared before the bench to answer another charge of disturbing the peace. The ‘eccentric little Kaffir, well-known for his military peculiarities’ told the court that some boys had annoyed him thus causing the fracas. Provocation was not considered sufficient mitigation of his alleged crime. Witnalder was fined 10 shillings and costs, and was required to serve fourteen days in prison if he failed to come up with the money. Several weeks later, on 23 December 1862, Witnalder appeared before the Stipendary Magistrate AB Jones Esq, and Captain Bateman at the Police Court along with a 14-year-old boy, William (or Henry as his name was also reported) Collard. Both were charged with committing an ‘unnatural offence’ and were committed to face trial. The prisoners spent Christmas 1862 in gaol waiting to learn their respective fates. Witnalder and Collard (now referred to as Cornwall Collins) stood trial on Wednesday 28 January in the Supreme Court before the Chief Justice, Sir Valentine Fleming. In keeping with the sensibilities of the time, the newspapers reporting the case found the details to be ‘quite unfit for publication’. Nevertheless, the boy had legal representation and much was made in evidence over whether the boy’s mouth had been covered by Witnalder as the ‘unnatural offence’ (sodomy) was being committed. It was found that the boy had allegedly been silenced by the other prisoner, Witnalder, and was therefore a victim rather than a co-conspirator. The police constable was reprimanded for withholding this crucial evidence from the court. Collard was found not guilty, but retained in custody to bear witness against the older man. He was then sworn in, and tearfully gave evidence that he had been assaulted by Witnalder and had not consented to the man’s attentions. The boy’s ordeal in the stand lasted an hour, following which other witnesses were called. The jury retired for only ten minutes before returning a ‘guilty’ verdict. Witnalder once again faced the extreme penalty of the law.

On Thursday 5 February 1863, the Executive Council met and considered Witnalder’s case. It resolved that the death penalty would be carried into effect. Some members of the public expressed outrage (albeit muted because of the nature of the prisoner’s alleged offence). The local Hobart newspaper implored ‘the Councillors of the Governor with whom rests the prerogative of mercy, to weigh well all the circumstances’. A submission from an unnamed advocate was reprinted in the Mercury’s columns, comparing Witnalder’s predicament with Summers who after being convicted of sodomy in July 1862 had his death sentence commuted to transportation for life. Summers, the writer contended, had been in ‘full possession of his senses’. The injustice in upholding the death sentence upon Witnalder, a man ‘little better than a savage’ was made apparent: ‘Summers is surely more responsible than this half tamed brute. And as Summers was not hung, will not the sacrifice of Whitnalder’s [sic] life be a Judicial or rather an Executive Murder?’ The appeal failed, and several days later the Mercury reported that Summer’s case had ‘special circumstances’ which did not apply to Witnalder’s. The reading public was assured that despite the public deploring the application of the death penalty, the Executive had considered all facets of Witnalder’s case in minute detail before deciding to uphold his sentence. The under-sheriff visited Witnalder at the Hobart Town Gaol to read the warrant for his execution. While there, he found the Protestant prisoner mistakenly had been attended by the Roman Catholic clergy since being condemned. On Friday 20 February 1863, Witnalder was roused from his cell at three thirty to prepare for death. He was joined by the Reverend Mr Hunter, who guided him in prayer. By eight that morning, a small crowd comprising the under-sheriff, keeper and under-keeper of the gaol, eight police constables and their sub-inspector, and reporters from the daily newspapers had assembled at the gaol. The only other witness was a Mr Lowe from Victoria. Witnalder emerged from his cell in Hunter’s company, the prisoner’s arms pinioned at his sides. The prayerful men were followed by the executioner. Because of Witnalder’s diminutive size, heavy weights were attached to his feet so he would not suffer more than was necessary. Witnalder ‘saluted’ the onlookers with ‘an abrupt bow’, before the cap was drawn over his head, the noose adjusted, and the flooring removed from under his feet. He was said to have died easily, and had asked Hunter to tell those gathered that he was innocent of the crime for which he had suffered." - Kristyn Harman, Aboriginal Convicts: Australian, Khoisan and Māori Exiles. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2012. p. 188-192.

[dargression]

"This film focuses on the uncertainties and inhumane acts of police and state brutality faced by the predominantly Rastafarian, KhoiSan identifying community of Hangberg in Cape Town, South Africa."

watched a few minutes, heartbreaking but captivating. this guy speaks such strong truths. I didn't know the realities of communities living in Cape Town. Such beautiful mountains and the sea right next to them, yet such strong oppression pushing itself in between. recommending for a dinner watch or something

[harrycosmo]

Took these screenshots from three episodes of ‘Tribes, Predators & Me’ years ago when it was on TV.

1. Kids of the Solomon Islands 2. San mother and daughter 3. Papuan girl

[kimludcom]

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A post shared by David Meihuizen (@talltravler)

[islandofspice]

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A post shared by NILEVALLEYHISTORY (@nilevalleyhistory)

The San people also have the epithetic fold of the Asian eye - they have genetic features of all the world’s people.

[daydreaming-in-daisies]

Baby faces of the San tribe ♡ ♡ ♡

[shadisthings]

“What actually happened to all those vanished Khoisan populations? We don’t know. All we can say for sure is that, in places where Khoisan peoples had lived for perhaps tens of thousands of years, there are now Bantu. We can only venture a guess, by analogy with witnessed events in modern times when steel-toting white farmers collided with stone tool–using hunter-gatherers of Aboriginal Australia and Indian California. There, we know that hunter-gatherers were rapidly eliminated in a combination of ways: they were driven out, men were killed or enslaved, women were appropriated as wives, and both sexes became infected with epidemics of the farmers’ diseases. An example of such a disease in Africa is malaria, which is borne by mosquitoes that breed around farmers’ villages, and to which the invading Bantu had already developed genetic resistance but Khoisan hunter-gatherers probably had not.” — Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

[oratilwemotlapele]