We Women Worked so Hard: Gender, Urbanization and Social Reproduction in Colonial Harare, Zimbabwe, 1930-1956 (Social History of Africa) [Paperback]

Teresa A. Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0325001723 | ISBN-13: 978-0325001722

In her thought-provoking and elegantly written study, Teresa Barnes shows how African ideas of gender in colonial Zimbabwe centrally shaped oppositional responses well before the advent of formal political nationalism. Marshaling an impressive collection of oral histories and rich archival detail, Barnes argues that urban African women and men in colonial Harare constructed complex yet coherent identities and durable hopes for themselves in broad moments of gendered conflict and consensus. this study compels readers to rethink urban colonial history and to question social categories in colonial Zimbabwe and throughout southern Africa. The book represents a major contribution to the social historiography of colonialism and to current debates on gender, politics, and family history in Africa.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'We Women Worked so Hard'0852556365'Barnes has the special ability to imagine the lives of women who worked with and against the tendencies of their time anonymously.' - Christine Sylvester in ASAAP '... fresh insight... outstanding...' - Margaret Snyder in Choice --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Teresa A. Barnes teaches in the History Department at the University of the Western Cape. She is co-author, with Everjoice Win of To Live a Better Life: An Oral History of Women in Harare, 1930-1970 (1992).

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann (October 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325001723
• ISBN-13: 978-0325001722
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,403,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.