Khoikhoiman met assegaai c. 1675 - 1725

This watercolor, titled "Khoikhoiman met assegaai," depicts a Khoikhoi man with a spear. It was made by an anonymous artist, likely sometime during the period of Dutch colonial expansion in South Africa. The image creates meaning through a combination of visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. The man's attire -- a fur loincloth and cloak -- marks him as "other" to European viewers. The spear, or assegaai, functions as a signifier of the man's potential to be either a warrior or a hunter. The image is typical of the colonial period. Such images reflect the European quest for knowledge about newly encountered peoples. The man is being displayed like a specimen. The social conditions that allowed for this image to be made include the rise of European colonialism and the associated pseudo-sciences of ethnography and racial classification. We, as historians, can examine such images critically, drawing on a range of primary source documents, to understand the complex relationship between art, power, and knowledge in the colonial context.