Domesticity and Colonialism in Belgian Africa: Usumbura's Foyer Social, 1946-1960

Abstract

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‘Even a labourer is worthy of his hire: how much more a wife?’ Gender and the Contested Nature of Domesticity in Colonial Zimbabwe, c.1945–1978

“…Ibid., 89 results Á we were pulled up sharply by the realistic, down-to-earth attitude of some woman member who thought out how some splendid idea would work in practice when applied to herself or her children. 34 While there were some predictably turgid patriarchal responses to Rosin concerning women and public service, further responses revealed that even settler society was not immune to gender change.…”

“…89 For Susan Geiger, the activism of Tanganyikan women during the liberation struggle is directly linked to the structures established by the colonial state for women's domestic development. 90 For RanchodNilsson the Rhodesian Homecraft Movement 'provided the structure in which African women developed a gendered political consciousness that was eventually part of the rural mobilization during the guerrilla war'.…”

Shona WomenMbiraPlayers: Gender, Tradition and Nation in Zimbabwe

“…The interaction of gender and gender ideologies with discourses of tradition was largely absent from the early work, but many more recent studies have documented gendered 'inventions' and re-interpretations of roles in colonial Africa (such as Callaway 1987;Hunt 1990). The most nuanced of these reveal the active agency of both colonizer and colonized; for instance, efforts to 'domesticate' African women resulted in selection and re-invention of European models by indigenous Africans (Hansen 1992).…”

Engendering the Invisible Empire: Imperialism, Feminism, and US Women's History

“…The frequent publication of articles such as Nancy Rose Hunt's 'Domesticity and Colonialism in Belgian Africa', Marnia Lazreg's 'Gender and Politics in Algeria', Elizabeth Schmidt's 'Patriarchy, Capitalism and the Colonial State in Zimbabwe', Elora Shehabuddin's, 'Contesting the Illicity: Gender and the Politics of Fatwas in Bangladesh', Antoinette Burton's 'Fearful Bodies into Disciplined Subjects', an examination of British reform in India, all seemed to suggest that the editors of Signs believed that empire happened primarily outside the United States. 16 A singular exception to the pattern, 'Postcolonial, Emergent, and Indigenous Feminisms', a Signs special issue, included an essay by Janice Gould, an American Indian scholar, and a 'viewpoint' article by Elizabeth Martinez. The editors, who specialised in languages, women's studies, history, international and African American studies, assured their readers that they 'recognized the problematics and implications' of using terms like postcolonial.…”