Zoom
Description
Colonial Caregivers offers a compelling cultural and social history of ayahs (nannies/maids), by exploring domestic intimacy and exploitation in colonial South Asia. Working for British imperial families from the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s, South Asian ayahs, as Chakraborty shows, not only provided domestic labor, but also provided important moral labor for the British Empire. The desexualized racialized ayah archetype upheld British imperial whiteness and sexual purity, and later Indian elite 'upper' caste domestic modernity. Chakraborty argues that the pervasive cultural sentimentalization of the ayah morally legitimized British colonialism, while obscuring the vulnerabilities of caregivers in real-life. Using an archive of petitions and letters from ayahs, fairytales they told to British children, court cases, and vernacular sources, Chakraborty foregrounds the precarious lives, voices, and perspectives of these women. By placing care labor at the center of colonial history, the book decolonizes the history of South Asia and the British Empire.
About the Author
Chakraborty, Satya Shikha: - Satya Shikha Chakraborty is Assistant Professor of History at The College of New Jersey. She has published award-winning articles on the history of Indian ayahs in Britain and European governesses in Indian princely households.
About the Author
Chakraborty, Satya Shikha: - Satya Shikha Chakraborty is Assistant Professor of History at The College of New Jersey. She has published award-winning articles on the history of Indian ayahs in Britain and European governesses in Indian princely households.
You May Also Like
-
-
-
$15.99 $22.00 -
$30.99 $35.00 -
-
$16.99 $22.99 -
-
-
-
$17.99 $23.95
Recently Viewed Products
Wishlist
Wishlist is empty.
Compare
Shopping cart