From Broken Bones to Healing Hearts: My Journey With Sarah Baartman

Diana Ferrus is an internationally-acclaimed South African poet, activist, and storyteller. Her poem “I’ve come to take you home” for Sarah Baartman, a Khoi Khoi woman who was paraded in freak shows in 19th century Europe inspired the French Senate to vote unanimously to return Baartman’s remains to South Africa. The poem is published in the French Law, a landmark in French history. At her performance lecture, Diana Ferrus will trace the genealogy of her poem to Sarah Baartman, linking it to colonialism, apartheid, and the roots of the designation “Coloured” in South Africa. She will read from her book I’ve come to take you home and discuss the significant impact the return of Sarah Baartman’s remains had on the people of South Africa. CO-SPONSORS: Departments of Women’s & Gender Studies, Cultural Foundations of Education, African American Studies, Languages, Literatures, and Lingustics, and The Writing Program