Brazilian planters assigned different African ethnic groups different natural temperaments

Evidence

In offi- cial missives the terms “Gayo” and “Acehnese” were distinguished in some accounts, but used interchangeably in others. How did Valck and his fellow reporters know how to tell a Gayo thief in the night from an Acehnese dissident? As we shall see, these terms often served to mark not ethnic identity but the degree of threat to this new colonial enterprise, those whose actions were to be classified as “common criminal” or “insurgent rebel.” — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Portuguese expansion into Africa produced the historical category of the Negro; Slave-control ideology assigned each African ethnicity a natural niche matching its labor role; Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100

Related

• Colonial ethnic categories broke down under acts both personal and political (similarity 0.82)
• Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity (similarity 0.81)
• Jungle encampments held a multiethnic underclass defying neat colonial ethnic categories (similarity 0.81)
• The “cannibal” label classified which natives would submit to colonial rule (similarity 0.81)
• Portuguese expansion into Africa produced the historical category of the Negro (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial discourse framed poor Indos as a biological racial threat (similarity 0.78)
• Slaves’ own vocabulary sharpened divisions among white colonists (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Slave-control ideology assigned each African ethnicity a natural niche matching its labor role #corroborates (0.80)
• Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity #expands (0.55) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100