British Scholar: McClintock: "Imperial Leather"

Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Context
Anne McClintock (London: Routledge, 1995), 464 pages

Reviewed by: Kirsten Walles, University of Texas at Austin

In Imperial Leather, McClintock attempts to tackle several key themes commonly linked to the study of
Empire including, but not limited to, gender, race, and trade. Each one of these themes has been duly
analyzed in previous historiography; however McClintock chooses to explore all of them under the guise of
British Imperialism in the Victorian era and within the context of South Africa up through the 1990s.
Likewise, McClintock’s use of diverse sources such as advertising, photography, oral history, novels, and
other cultural forms enhance the analysis.

McClintock explores and/or opens the path of discussion for so many themes, that a short summary of her
book proves truly impossible. Therefore this review will focus on two points of interest: the relationship
between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick and the analysis of Olive Shreiner. McClintock applies the
relationship between Munby and Cullwick as an analogy for Victorian views regarding a woman’s role in
society, racism, and European perceptions of colonial labor. McClintock suggests that these parallels can
be seen in Munby’s fascination with the “cult of domesticity” into which Victorian society placed women,
essentially using women as unpaid servants to manage households and in Cullwick’s case, as paid drudge
labor. Cullwick willing called Munby “massa” and wore a slave bracelet (a strip of leather) around her wrist,
thus illustrating Victorian control (the metropole) over the colonies (the periphery).

McClintock’s analysis of Olive Shreiner proves to be the strongest section of this book. Again McClintock
examines connections between the life and writings of Shreiner, who suffered from being trapped equally
by her gender and her location in South Africa. McClintock’s previous work on Shreiner clearly appears in
this chapter as she presents a lucid argument for the life and work of her heroine as a true symbol of
women’s struggle for recognition and respect within the confines of gender relations, sexuality, work, race,
and the colonial context.

Imperial Leather exposes several themes that deserve a lengthier space for a true analysis. Yet, if
presented with the opportunity to explore all of McClintock’s arguments, one would discover that
McClintock herself possessed neither the time nor space to fully realize each of her ideas. Rather, the
reader is left with the impression that too many “loose ends” remain or that too many questions go
unanswered. If that was the intention then McClintock definitely achieved her goal, and frustrated readers
will be motivated to pursue the open questions she does not answer. Perhaps these lacunae will lead to
many welcomed discussions in the future on this important topic.