“… And My Blood Became Hot!” Crimes of Passion, Crimes of Reason: An Analysis of the Crimes of Murder and Physical Assault against Masters and Mistresses by their Indian Domestic Servants, Natal, 1880–1920

Abstract

In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx said that “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented.” Marx was of course referring to small-holding peasants, but the phrase is used here to describe the way in which this study represents the beginning of an attempt to bring to life the stories of domestic servants who existed within the inner sanctum of colonial life. Interesting in their behaviour and actions and enigmatic in their thoughts and ideologies, for them, domesticity arrested their sense of individuality and they strived to exist outside the bounds of their contract with their masters and mistresses. Presented here are micro-histories of Indian domestic servants, who lived and worked in Natal during the years 1880 and 1920, a period marked by great turbulence. This paper analyses the crimes committed by these servants against their masters and mistresses and through this offers a portrait of their, at times very intimate, but also very violent relationships with their masters, mistresses and children in the Colonial settler homes for which they cared.