The Wages of Harlotry—Luise White’s The Comforts of Home

In “The Wages of Harlotry,” Kenda Mutongi examines the historiographical significance of Luise White’s The Comforts of Home: Prostitution in Colonial Nairobi (1990). She argues that White’s main contribution has been connecting the history of prostitution in Nairobi to histories of family, labor, sexuality, gender, colonial state, housing, urban life, and political economy—that is, White is a pioneer in writing entangled, layered, and intersectional histories that have an enduring influence today despite early skepticism about her work. Drawing partly on scholars’ solicited reminiscences of teaching and reading the book, Mutongi shows that White has been a fierce feminist and a fascinatingly eclectic African historian. To fully understand the influence of White’s book, Mutongi argues, we have to go beyond what we read between its covers and talk with people who lived and worked with White while she was researching and writing the book as well as those who have taught it to different generations of students over the last thirty years

Colonialism · Historiography · Human sexuality · Political science · Politics · Reading (process) · Skepticism · Sociology · State (computer science) · Theology · White (mutation) · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Sex work and related issues

• Introduction

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