Afrikaans gezin 1782

Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki created this print, titled Afrikaans gezin, which translates to African family, sometime between 1726 and 1801. During this era, images of non-Europeans were frequently produced through the lens of colonialism and nascent scientific racism. This print, part of a series categorizing human "varieties," reflects the 18th-century fascination with classifying the world, including its people. The image depicts a family scene by a river: a mother nurses a child, another figure kneels nearby, and a man stands with a paddle, while others are in a boat. These scenes often exoticized and generalized about people from different cultures, reinforcing the notion of European superiority. Consider how this image served to shape European perceptions of African people. It reduces complex societies to simplistic representations, reflecting both a desire for knowledge and a will to power. This work urges us to consider the legacy of colonialism and its continued impact on representation and identity.