de.hypotheses“Industrious” Chinese and British “drunkards and scoundrels”:
In 1908, maritime labour debates were shaped by sharp stereotypes. In the pages of The Seaman, Chinese sailors were cast as a “yellow peril” and British workers as unreliable drunkards. Michelle Watzig shows what these stereotypes reveal about the status of British seamen in the early 19th century 👇
‘Industrious’ Chinese and British ‘Scoundrels’: Stereotypes of Asian and British Seamen in the 1908 Issues of The Seaman
Introduction: Competition on the Labour Market ‘A Carnival of Calumny’1—that was how The Seaman, the journal of the National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union, described the situation facing its readers in the early twentieth century. The journal was dominated by a campaign claiming that Chinese seamen, who earned lower wages than European seafarers, were the main … Continue reading ‘Industrious’ Chinese and British ‘Scoundrels’: Stereotypes of Asian and British Seamen in the 1908 Issues of The Seaman
Max Weber Stiftung
Klaus Oschema
