Colonial definitions of European identity silently hinged on definitions of neediness

Evidence

But the more delicate and divisive question that rustled on the discursive margins was whether the criteria used to describe “European” was appropriate—and therefore whether the criteria of “needy” was accurate. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 833

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows how ‘needy’ and ‘European’ operated as mutually defining categories, each calibrating the other’s boundary in colonial discourse.