Hottentots and the Birth of Racism in Europe

From the Chronicle of Higher Education (1-11-05):

In 1497, when Europeans first encountered the Khoikhoi people, popularly known as "Hottentots," of present-day South Africa, an important chapter in the cultural history of racism began, says Nicholas Hudson, a professor of English at the University of British Columbia.

European explorers initially were repulsed by the Hottentots, who had very different ideas about how to dress, cook, and conduct courtships than were current in Europe. The Hottentots, early reports indicated, smeared their light skin with dirt and oil to appear darker, preferred barely cooked tripe to animal muscle, and looped greasy cow intestines about their beloveds' shoulders to celebrate engagements.

By the 18th century, "Hottentot" was a common insult in Europe for an ill-mannered, filthy, or otherwise uncivilized person. The Hottentots also became a popular subject for parodies of European customs. They "provided a classic example that beauty was in the eye of the beholder and that all fashions could seem preposterous from a different cultural perspective," Mr. Hudson writes.

But thinking of customs and values as relative made many Europeans uncomfortable, and a "racial science" developed to combat that world-view. "From this ideological root," he says, "grew the distinctive language of modern racism."

By attributing differences between themselves and other peoples to intrinsic characteristics rather than to cultural variations, he says, Europeans were able to retain their sense of superiority and to justify colonizing people they saw as inferiors in need of control and indoctrination.

The article, "'Hottentots' and the Evolution of European Racism," is online for a limited time at http://jes.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/34/4/308