An Historical Perspective: Colonial Continuities in the Global Geography of Domestic Service

Abstract

A specific language, which the author calls 'Pidgin Madam', has developed since the late seventies between Sri Lankan live-in housemaids in Lebanon, and their Arab employers. The study of Pidgin Madam can potentially enrich our understanding of the creation and nature of languages of dominance and subordination in domestic service. Whinnom in 1971 distinguishes language contact situations that produce pidgins from others that do not. Michele Gamburd has used the expression 'intimate outsider' to characterize the marginalized position of Sri Lankan domestic workers in Middle Eastern homes. Ethiopians, are admired for being 'descendants of the Queen of Saba, hence their beauty', and for being Christians. Ethiopians' Christianity is often mentioned as a 'quality' in Lebanon, even in Muslim households. The strength of character that enables maids to face, at worse, abuse and death, and, at best, the retrospect that 'all these losses were for not much after all' stems from their awareness of their value.