A History of the Excluded: making family a refuge from state in twentieth-century Tanzania (review)

women’s status or on gender relations? Unfortunately we do not learn much. While young men show agency in the contestation over custom and power, women remain largely reified, soulless or absent, while gender relations remain undefined throughout. Apart from the fact that the book does not live up to its promise of gender analysis, the central chapter presents a detailed and contextually rich account of the tenant labour system in Natal, which is useful for those interested in the rural historiography of Southern Africa. If women fail to feature much, at least male labour tenants, young and old, and their white masters, come to life.