An insider-outsider eyewitness gave Därfür its richest internal political history

Evidence

This position gave Muhammad al-Tunisï a perspective as an eyewitness and shaped the rest of his long narrative about his years in Därfür. For example, he was present during a dramatic struggle for power between the sultan Muhammad al-Fadl and his successor, `abd al-Rahman al-Yatïm, and for the fall from grace of the great eunuch general Muhammad Karra. Such accounts make al-Tunisï’s book essential reading for students of Sudanese history; the events he recounts reveal a complicated history among the tribes of Därfür. He presents vibrant Därfüri cultures and people, with heroes and passions and tragedies of their own—accounts that alternate with much more objectifying presentations of Därfüris as primitives. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 161

Categorization

• XREF: Juxtaposition of empathetic and objectifying portrayals in one text parallels how colonial-era sources can simultaneously humanize and dehumanize subjects — relevant to the reader’s coloniality framework.