Domestic Workers and the Politics of Space Within the Household in Ferdinand Oyono’s "Houseboy"

Abstract

Domestic workers have constantly been disregarded within the domestic space. However, owing to their immense contribution to the smooth running of the household, this disregard comes at a cost. The mistreatment of the house servants inevitably results to the detriment of the home owners or the employers. The frosty relationship that frequently exists between the domestic workers has been a subject of concern for some post-colonial Africa literary writers. Literary critics have however paid minimal attention to the tense relationship that exists between house servants and their employers. Critics have chosen to concentrate on the more ‘serious issues’ of colonialism pitting the colonizer versus the colonized. This research paper epitomizes the plight of domestic servants in the course of re-reading Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy (1966). The tools of analysis employed are Karl Marx and Frederick Engel’s strand of Marxism.