A Nubian servant’s authority scandalized an Egyptian peasant in Cairene drama

Evidence

Faraj turns to the audience and describes his futile attempt to enter the market hall: … I went into the stock market trying to see my master [al-khawäja]. This Nubian grabbed me at the door and said to me, “Servants don’t come in here. Servants have no business here in the stock market. Leave, peasant. You have no business here. Go sweep your master’s room, and [straighten up] the straw. Go!” And he shoved me until there were only a few centimeters between me and the door. What could I say? Even the Nubians get their day. All that comes from the gentlemen who spoil them. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 357

Categorization

• FICTION: An Egyptian peasant imitating a Nubian’s accent while complaining about his presumption inverts the usual power mockery — a rich comic structure for fiction about racialized hierarchy.