Description
Colonial Caregivers: Ayahs and the Gendered History of Race and Caste in British India offers a groundbreaking examination of the ayahs—female domestic servants who were essential to British colonial households. Through meticulous historical research, Satya Shikha Chakraborty uncovers the complex intersections of gender, race, and caste that defined these women’s lives and labor.
The book challenges conventional narratives of colonial history by centering the experiences of ayahs, who occupied a unique and precarious position within imperial hierarchies. Chakraborty explores how British colonial structures commodified and racialized these women while simultaneously depending upon their intimate domestic labor for the maintenance of white family life in India.
Drawing on archival documents, personal accounts, and theoretical frameworks, this critical work reveals how ayahs navigated colonial power structures, resisted exploitation, and created communities of support. Essential reading for scholars of colonial history, gender studies, South Asian history, and postcolonial theory.
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