Colonial-era elites adopted European civilizational decline discourse to claim independence

Evidence

European historical reason (including the notion of an Islamic Golden Age followed by a secular decline under the Ottomans) was adopted by the new elites, he suggests, via books from and about Europe, as well as the Islamic “classics” selected for printing by European orientalists and by Westernized Egyptians. That civilizational discourse could now be used, concludes Schulze, to legitimize the claim to equality and independence. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1049

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the vaulted Cooper thread on how formerly colonial/subjugated groups internalize the frameworks of the dominant culture to make rights claims within it.