Black dolls, nannies and childcare in the Danish West Indies
Naum, Magdalena LU
(2024)
In Kulturstudier
2024(1).
p.65-87
- Abstract
- Taking point of departure in two black dolls that once belonged to Sophie Christine Oxholm and to the family of Clara Asenath Schultz, the article explores aspects of childhood and childcare in colonial homes. Both girls grew up in the Danish West Indies in the nineteenth century and were cared for by African Caribbean nannies – the likely makers of the dolls. Drawing on historical and literary sources, I investigate the roles and responsibilities of African Caribbean nannies in white households, their perception by white parents and children and the nannies’ self- representations materialized in the dolls. I also explore the dolls as biographical objects and souvenirs capturing bonds between children and nannies and privileged upbringing... (More)
- Taking point of departure in two black dolls that once belonged to Sophie Christine Oxholm and to the family of Clara Asenath Schultz, the article explores aspects of childhood and childcare in colonial homes. Both girls grew up in the Danish West Indies in the nineteenth century and were cared for by African Caribbean nannies – the likely makers of the dolls. Drawing on historical and literary sources, I investigate the roles and responsibilities of African Caribbean nannies in white households, their perception by white parents and children and the nannies’ self- representations materialized in the dolls. I also explore the dolls as biographical objects and souvenirs capturing bonds between children and nannies and privileged upbringing of the girls. The dolls are an entry point to explore aspects of childcare, domestic labor, and everyday life in colonial Danish West Indies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/35a06769-558f-4190-8832-6b49e8260d81
- author
- Naum, Magdalena
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- nannies, childcare, black dolls, colonialism, museum collections, souvenir, 19th century, Danish West Indies
- in
- Kulturstudier
- volume
- 2024
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 23 pages
- publisher
- Dansk Historisk Fællesråd
- ISSN
- 1904-5352
- DOI
- 10.7146/ks.v2024i1.146745
- project
- Enduring Materialities of Colonialism (EMoC): temporality, spatiality and memory
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 35a06769-558f-4190-8832-6b49e8260d81
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-27 14:34:09
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:19:53
@article{35a06769-558f-4190-8832-6b49e8260d81,
abstract = {{Taking point of departure in two black dolls that once belonged to Sophie Christine Oxholm and to the family of Clara Asenath Schultz, the article explores aspects of childhood and childcare in colonial homes. Both girls grew up in the Danish West Indies in the nineteenth century and were cared for by African Caribbean nannies – the likely makers of the dolls. Drawing on historical and literary sources, I investigate the roles and responsibilities of African Caribbean nannies in white households, their perception by white parents and children and the nannies’ self- representations materialized in the dolls. I also explore the dolls as biographical objects and souvenirs capturing bonds between children and nannies and privileged upbringing of the girls. The dolls are an entry point to explore aspects of childcare, domestic labor, and everyday life in colonial Danish West Indies.}},
author = {{Naum, Magdalena}},
issn = {{1904-5352}},
keywords = {{nannies; childcare; black dolls; colonialism; museum collections; souvenir; 19th century; Danish West Indies}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{65--87}},
publisher = {{Dansk Historisk Fællesråd}},
series = {{Kulturstudier}},
title = {{Black dolls, nannies and childcare in the Danish West Indies}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/ks.v2024i1.146745}},
doi = {{10.7146/ks.v2024i1.146745}},
volume = {{2024}},
year = {{2024}},
}