Claire Lowrie’s Masters and Servants: Cultures of Empire in the Tropics (Studies in Imperialism Series, Manchester University Press) explores the politics of colonial mastery and domestic servitude in the neighbouring British colonies of Singapore and Darwin and illustrates the centrality of the domestic realm to the colonial project. It is the first comparative history of domestic service and British colonialism in the tropics, and highlights the important role which ‘houseboys’ played in colonial households in the tropics and the common preference for Chinese ‘houseboys’ throughout Southeast Asia.
The book will be launched by Ann Curthoys in Wollongong in June.