HSY1511 ASSIGNMENT 3 SEMESTER 2 2025 (Answer Guide)

HSY1511 ASSIGNMENT 3 SEMESTER 2 2025 (Answer Guide) Topic 1 — Essay Outline Essay question: Critically discuss how European thinkers and colonialists used pseudo-scientific racism to justify slavery during the 19th century with reference to the story of Sarah Baartman. 1) Introduction Pseudo-scientific racism refers to the misuse of scientific methods such as craniometry, anthropometry and anatomical studies to construct racial hierarchies that placed Africans as inferior to Europeans. These theories emerged strongly in the 18th and 19th centuries, providing a seemingly intellectual justification for slavery and colonial domination. Sarah Baartman, taken from the Cape Colony to Europe in 1810, became a central figure in this discourse as she was exhibited in London and later studied by French scientists in Paris. Her story illustrates how science, popular entertainment, and imperial power converged to reinforce racial stereotypes and legitimise slavery. By analysing Baartman’s experience chronologically, it is possible to see how European thinkers and colonialists transformed her body into “evidence” of African inferiority. Her exploitation not only exemplified the intersection of race, gender and power but also demonstrates how pseudo-scientific racism continues to shape memory and debates about restitution today (Dubow, 1995; Magubane, 2001; Qureshi, 2004). 2) Main points 1. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, European naturalists such as Georges Cuvier promoted racial typologies through comparative anatomy, giving intellectual legitimacy to the enslavement of Africans by portraying them as biologically inferior (Dubow, 1995). 2. In 1810, Sarah Baartman was transported from the Cape to London where she was exhibited as the “Hottentot Venus,” and her public display commodified her body while reinforcing stereotypes of African primitiveness that supported pro-slavery ideology (Magubane, 2001).