Taking heat out of the kitchen : a case study of domestic workers in Rooihuiskraal.

Abstract

This study draws on insights from both sociology and history in order to locate domestic. workers. It draws insight from historical processes, in the wider social structure and in home, in both the political and domestic economy. This constitutes the landscape in which domestic workers are placed. But it would be a bleak painting if we confirm the study on only these aspects. The most important aspect of this picture lies in the human figures it depicts. Whatever colour and richness the study has comes largely from the thoughts and experiences of individual domestic workers. Their definitions of the situation, their perception of themselves and their employers, their relationship with their employers and the way in which these are negotiated, their hopes and fears, constitute a moving record of human suffering, endurance and denial.