Masters and servants : cultures of empire in the Tropics / Claire Lowrie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lowrie, Claire, author.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Household employees--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Household employees.

Household employees--Singapore--History--19th century.

Household employees--Australia--Darwin (N.T.)--History--19th century.

Great Britain--Colonies--Asia.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--Social conditions.

Singapore--History--19th century.

Singapore.

Darwin (N.T.)--History--19th century.

Darwin (N.T.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 213 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

MSI edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Masters and servants explores the politics of colonial mastery and domestic servitude in the neighbouring British tropical colonies of Singapore and Darwin. Like other port cities throughout Southeast Asia, Darwin and Singapore were crossroads where goods, ideas, cultures and people from the surrounding regions mixed and mingled via the steam ships lines. The focus of this book is on how these connections produced a common tropical colonial culture in these sites. A key element of this shared culture was the presence of a multiethnic entourage of domestic servants in colonial homes and a common preference for Chinese 'houseboys'. Through an exploration of master-servant relationships within British, white Australian and Chinese homes, this book illustrates the centrality of the domestic realm to the colonial project. The colonial home was a contact zone which brought together European colonists, non-white migrants and Indigenous people, most often through the domestic service relationship. Rather than a case of unquestioned mastery and devoted servitude, relationships between masters and servants had the potential not only to affirm but also destabilise the colonial hierarchy. The intimacies, antagonisms and anxieties of the relationships between masters and servants provide critical insights into the dynamics of colonial power with the British empire.

Contents:

Introduction: domestic service and colonial mastery in the tropics

A 'second Singapore'? The connected histories of Darwin and Singapore, 1860s-1930s

Historicising 'houseboys': cultures of male servitude in the tropics, 1880s-1910s

White masters and their Chinese 'houseboys': masculinity, sexuality and racial anxiety in the home, 1880s-1930s

White women and the decline of Chinese 'houseboys', 1910s-1930s

Idle mems, weary wives and 'red hot revolutionaries': domestic tension and political antagonism in the home, 1910s-1930s

Masters and colonisers: the politics of Chinese domestic mastery, 1920s-1930s

Conclusion: domestic service at the end of the Empire.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 May 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781784997939

1784997935

9781526109651

1526109654

9781784997496

1784997498

OCLC:

980814670