Wow! eBook
The Comforts of Home: Prostitution in Colonial Nairobi 2nd ed. Edition
Author(s): Luise White (Author)
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press
- Publication Date: 15 Oct. 1990
- Edition: 2nd ed.
- Language: English
- Print length: 300 pages
- ISBN-10: 0226895076
- ISBN-13: 9780226895079
Book Description
"This history is . . . the first fully-fleshed story of African Nairobi in all of its complexity which foregrounds African experiences. Given the overwhelming white dominance in the written sources, it is a remarkable achievement."—Claire Robertson, International Journal of African Historical Studies
"White's book . . . takes a unique approach to a largely unexplored aspect of African History. It enhances our understanding of African social history, political economy, and gender studies. It is a book that deserves to be widely read."—Elizabeth Schmidt, American Historical Review
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
This book is about the history of prostitution in a city in British colonial Africa. Nairobi, women saw prostitution as a reliable means of capital accumulation, not as a despicable fate or a temporary strategy. Indeed, whether a woman invested in urban real estate for herself or bought goats for her father did not seem to have been a personal or a cultural decision. The work of prostitutes was family labor.
About the Author
Luise White is assistant professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
