Hearts of Darkness: white women write race

Abstract

In an effort to popularise the gas stove, boost sales and minimize the genuine and perceived dangers of using this volatile domestic appliance, late Victorian gas managers and stove manufacturers employed female cookery teachers to perform public demonstrations at trade exhibitions throughout the country. Eventually, these women comprised a special department of gas sales, calling directly on customers in their homes to offer personal instruction in the proper use and care of gas stoves. Part social workers, part salesgirls, the ‘lady demons’, short for lady demonstrators, moved between the traditionally gendered separate spheres of work and home, consciously constructing a professional image that reconciled the social tensions of this new occupation. They offer an early example of women's entrance into the corporate business world, the feminisation of consumption, and the combination of customer service with social welfare.     

Confrontation and co‐operation in the Indian Ocean

The end of the Cold War has created new dangers and opportunities. The formation of an Indian Ocean Rim trading bloc has the potential to benefit some of the poorest people in the world. Regional maritime co‐operation could provide the catalyst for alleviating poverty on the Indian Ocean Rim by giving a spurt to incomes and employment from the seas.     

Obstructive all the way? British policy towards German unification 1989–90

British policy towards German unification has been judged to be at best reluctant, at worst obstructive. This article seeks to revise that perception, using documents from the Federal Chancellor's Office and the author's interviews with British and German diplomats and politicians. It distinguishes between the rhetoric of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The latter played a leading role in the Two Plus Four talks that resolved the external issues involved in German unification, and made a particular contribution to devising the formula for the termination of Four Power Rights over a unified Germany.