Colonialism and Male Domestic Service across the Asia Pacific

Examining the role of Asian and indigenous male servants across the Asia Pacific from the late-19th century to the 1930s, this study shows how their ubiquitous presence in these purportedly ''humble'' jobs gave them a degree of cultural influence that has been largely overlooked in the literature on labour mobility in the age of empire.With case studies from British Hong Kong, Singapore, Northern Australia, Fiji and British Columbia, French Indochina, the American Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, the book delves into the intimate and often conflicted relationships between European and American colonists and their servants. It explores the lives of ''houseboys'', cooks and gardeners in the colonial home, considers the bell-boys and waiters in the grand colonial hotels, and follows the stewards and cabin-boys on steamships travelling across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This broad conception of service allows to illuminate trans-colonial or cross-border influences through the mobility of servants and their employers.This path-breaking study is an important book for students and scholars of colonialism, labour history and the Asia Pacific region.>

Product details

• Authors: H, Victoria Haskins, Victoria (University of Newcastle Haskins, Claire Lowrie, Claire (University of Wollongong Lowrie, Lowrie Claire, Julia Martinez, Julia (University of Wollongong Martinez, Julia Lowrie Martinez, Julia Martínez, Frances Steel, Frances (University of Wollongong Steel, Steel Frances
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2018
• EAN: 9781350056725
• ISBN: 978-1-350-05672-5
• No. of pages: 280
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; 20th Century, HISTORY / Asia / General, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, HISTORY / Australia & New Zealand, HISTORY / Oceania, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Archaeology, Social and cultural history, Australasian & Pacific history, Asian History, History and Archaeology, Australasian and Pacific history