Within southern African historiography, Jeater's approach recalls a number of other recent studies focusing on the interconnections between gender, sexuality and colonial rule. Additionally, Jeater's work documents the complex historical production of a particular form of discourse, a project which echoes recent studies by Adam Ashforth and Clifton Crais. Jeater's book is not only a rich example of the immediate future of southern African studies, but also offers an illuminating snapshot of the larger insights that are coming from the engagement between colonial historiography and recent work in critical theory and cultural studies. For those who regard such changes with profound dread, Jeater's work is likely to prove a pleasant surprise. There is no impenetrable thicket of neologisms to sift through.
Theoretical citations are only very lightly and appropriately placed throughout the text.
In pursuing a study of discourse, the book does not sideline or ignore political economy. Jeater's narrative is meticulously developed and thoroughly documented. Nevertheless, many readers will probably argue that Jeater has neglected some important matter, subject to their own pet obsessions. Domesticity and a number of other social institutions discussed in this book, such as prostitution, also offer the opportunity for a more extended consideration of female agency than Jeater provides. I also wondered about the role of settler women, which Jeater discusses to some extent.