A traveler’s body itself could mark the boundary between Arab and black lands.

Evidence

This passage reveals many layers of translation and identity.Al-Tunisï could not know what the crowd was saying about his color without the mediating translation of his guards, who could not have revealed that information to him until the hostile encounter had resolved itself.Writing some forty years after his original voyage, al-Tunisï thus brings into sharp relief the immediate color consciousness that both he and these Furis instigated in each other.The authority of the sultan, however, shielded him, in the form of the guards and servants he sent along. By his very person and presence, al- Tunisï defined the boundaries between the land of the Arabs, biläd al-`arab, and the land of the blacks, biläd al-südän. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 167

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the bilad al-arab / bilad al-sudan dividing concept and shows it as personally embodied.
• XREF: Relates to reader’s comparative Egypt-Sudan coloniality interest: the racial-civilizational boundary that later colonial rule built upon. — connects to: Arab travelers mapped Darfur by moral traits rather than physical terrain — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 161; Al-Tunisï’s civilizational judgments coexisted with genuine appreciation of blackness — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 174; Western identity is constructed through contrast with Muslim bodies. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 402 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Arab travelers mapped Darfur by moral traits rather than physical terrain — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 161; Al-Tunisï’s civilizational judgments coexisted with genuine appreciation of blackness — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 174; Western identity is constructed through contrast with Muslim bodies. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 402 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Al-Tunisï’s civilizational judgments coexisted with genuine appreciation of blackness #complicates (0.74) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 174