By 1882 Egyptians realized Europe ranked them closer to Africa than Europe

Evidence

This was the uncomfortable realization that, in the eyes of western European cul- ture, Egypt stood somewhere closer to Africa than to Europe when mea- sured on a scale that calibrated the achievements of each civilization, and that Egypt was just as vulnerable to conquest and colonization as the Sudan. Against this tense and conflicted background, Egyptian writers and politi- cians labored to assert Egypt’s separateness from such vulnerability in their descriptions and characterizations of their own society. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 349 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

Related

• Egyptians realized Europe ranked them closer to Africa than to Europe in civilizational terms (similarity 0.92)
• Egyptians grew uneasy that Europeans ranked Egypt as African and colonizable. (similarity 0.92)
• Egypt positioned itself alongside Europe by measuring Sudan as backward (similarity 0.88)
• Egyptians feared being viewed by Europe as colonizable like Sudan (similarity 0.87)
• Egyptians internalized a civilizing mission toward Africa to assert parity with Europe. (similarity 0.84)
• Egyptians feared being racialized as African and thus vulnerable to colonization like Sudan (similarity 0.84)
• Some Egyptians saw themselves as empire builders in Sudan, not merely colonial subjects (similarity 0.84)
• Mubärak paralleled African experiences of being stared at with Egyptians in Europe (similarity 0.82)
• Egyptian independence hinged on proving civilization to western Europe (similarity 0.82)
• Egyptians learned empire by drawing sharper distinctions from Sudan (similarity 0.82)
• Egypt’s colonizing of Sudan functioned as a non-European imperial imagination (similarity 0.81)
• Egyptian nationalists saw Egypt as uniquely placed between civilized Europe and fanatical Africa. (similarity 0.81)
• Lutfï al-Sayyid equated Egyptian and Sudanese subjection to shared autocratic rule (similarity 0.81)
• Egyptians produced their own Orientalist discourse about the Sudan and Africa (similarity 0.81)
• Egypt was simultaneously colonized by Britain and eager to recolonize the Sudan. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Egyptians grew uneasy that Europeans ranked Egypt as African and colonizable. #corroborates (0.85)
• Egypt positioned itself alongside Europe by measuring Sudan as backward #complicates (0.70)
• Egyptians feared being viewed by Europe as colonizable like Sudan #corroborates (0.70) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 349
• Egypt positioned itself as a civilizing bridge between Europe and Africa. #contradicts (0.60)