Giving voice to the women who worked as maids--known as "house-girls" in the Pacific islands of Vanuatu--is the goal of this innovative work. It is a unique collaborative project with contributions from twenty-one indigenous and four expatriate women. Although women's history is a popular topic globally, Pacific island women have had few opportunities to conduct research and publish in this field. The book is contextualized within literature on domestic workers and current anthropological theory, but the focus is on the words of the indigenous women themselves. Methodologically, its collaborative approach demonstrates possibilities for redefining post-colonial research. In 1990, Lissant Bolton (from Australia) and Jean Tarisesei (from Vanuatu) developed a program that trained women to be anthropological fieldworkers, encouraging them not only to develop research skills and an interest in women's cultural practices, but also to  explore their own colonial history and contribute to a larger research project.The stories the women tell resonate with the experiences of domestic workers around the world; their histories contribute to theorizing intimacy and traveling culture; and their struggles with adverse working conditions help find solutions, which are outlined at the end of the book. In addition to contributions by the editors, workshop reports by eleven ni-Vanuatu women fieldworkers and ten others who spoke about their lives as house-girls are included. These reports are structured into nine chapters detailing ni-Vanuatu women's experiences as domestic workers during the colonial period. Chapter 10 presents an elderly French woman's recollections of the Vietnamese orphan who grew up in her home and worked as a house-girl. Material from contemporary house-girls appears in a final chapter based on research conducted in Port Vila. A conclusion assesses the working conditions faced by house-girls, past and present, and suggests how to ensure these women get the respect they desire and deserve.House-Girls Remember is a fascinating approach to the history of colonialism. It will appeal to a wide readership, which will include not only anthropologists, historians, economists concerned with the meaning of work, and scholars engaged in feminist studies, but also Pacific islanders emerging from their colonial past.

House-Girls Remember: Domestic Workers in Vanuatu PDF

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