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Colonial Domesticities, Contentious Interactions

Ayahs, Wet-Nurses and Memsahibs in Colonial India

Indrani Sen is at the Department of English, Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. Email. indranisen2002{at}gmail.com.

Nineteenth and early 20th century colonial writings projected the colonial home as a microcosm of the empire. However, as this article argues, the memsahibs’ imperial authority was often undermined by the dynamics of domestic relationships inside the home. Complex and contradictory, they threatened to render the colonial home an ambivalent—and even contested—space. In particular, the location of two female servants inside the colonial nursery—the ayah and the wet-nurse—was problematic. Ayahs were close to European children, who were the next generation of imperial rulers. Often, these children were more attached to their servants than to their parents. An even darker figure was that of the wet-nurse who was universally perceived negatively. This paper draws upon a range of materials from memoirs to medical handbooks to delineate tensions within the imperial home.

Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 16, No. 3, 299-328 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/097152150901600301


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