Distant Companions : Servants and Employers in Zambia, 1900–1985 / / Karen Tranberg Hansen.

• Author: Hansen, Karen Tranberg.
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca : : Cornell University Press,, 1989.; ©1989.
• Year of Publication: 2018; 1989
• Language: English
• Series: Anthropology of contemporary issues.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (340 pages) :; illustrations.

Distant Companions tells the fascinating story of the lives and times of domestic servants and their employers in Zambia from the beginning of white settlement during the colonial period until after independence. Emphasizing the interactive nature of relationships of domination, the book is useful for readers who seek to understand the dynamics of domestic service in a variety of settings. In order to examine the servant- employer relationship within the context of larger political and economic processes, Karen Tranberg Hansen employs an unusual combination of methods, including analysis of historical documents, travelogues, memoirs, literature, and life histories, as well as anthropological fieldwork, survey research, and participant observation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations, Maps, and Tables -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction. The Problem and Its Context -- Part I. Fixture of Colonial Society -- 1. The Creation of a Gender Role: The Male Domestic Servant -- 2. Women For Hire? Sex And Gender In Domestic Service -- 3. Troubled Lives: Servants and Their Employers in the Preindependence Era -- Part II. Encountering Domestic Service -- 4. Research On And Life With Servants -- PART III. Colonial Legacies and Postcolonial Changes -- 5. Persistence and Change -- 6. A Transformed Occupation -- 7. Lives Beyond the Workplace -- 8. Servants Everywhere: Conclusions -- Appendix 1. Servants' Wages -- Appendix 2. Servants' Budgets -- Index