Introduction: Regulation and Domestic Service in Colonial Histories

Victoria Haskins,Samita Sen

doi:10.1017/s0020859022000074

Abstract

AbstractThis essay introduces the Special Theme on regulation and domestic service in colonial societies. It provides a brief overview of the key themes of domestic service and regulation in the history of colonial states, and reflects upon the ways in which the colonial past is deployed in contemporary calls for the regulation of domestic work by the state, to secure the rights and protections of present-day workers as modern, free subjects. We note that, while much more work needs to done on this subject, current scholarship suggests that the status of the domestic worker and the extent of regulation in colonial contexts was historically unclear and often ambivalent. The three articles that constitute the Special Theme are then discussed in turn, to highlight the important insights, both empirical and theoretical, they offer to our deeper understanding of this complex history.

Highlights

Regulation and Domestic Service in Colonial HistoriesVICTORIA HASKINS Faculty of Education and Arts, University of NewcastleCallaghan, New South Wales, AustraliaSAMITA SEN Trinity College, University of Cambridge Cambridge, CB TQ, United Kingdom ABSTRACTThis essay introduces the Special Theme on regulation and domestic service in colonial societies
It provides a brief overview of the key themes of domestic service and regulation in the history of colonial states, and reflects upon the ways in which the colonial past is deployed in contemporary calls for the regulation of domestic work by the state, to secure the rights and protections of present-day workers as modern, free subjects
While much more work needs to done on this subject, current scholarship suggests that the status of the domestic worker and the extent of regulation in colonial contexts was historically unclear and often ambivalent

Summary

Introduction

Regulation and Domestic Service in Colonial HistoriesVICTORIA HASKINS Faculty of Education and Arts, University of NewcastleCallaghan, New South Wales, AustraliaSAMITA SEN Trinity College, University of Cambridge Cambridge, CB TQ, United Kingdom ABSTRACTThis essay introduces the Special Theme on regulation and domestic service in colonial societies. Introduction: Regulation and Domestic Service in Colonial Histories While much more work needs to done on this subject, current scholarship suggests that the status of the domestic worker and the extent of regulation in colonial contexts was historically unclear and often ambivalent.

Results

Conclusion