Edward Lane recorded Egyptian ritual self-mutilation as evidence of Eastern degeneration

Evidence

When the seyyid ‘Omar, the Nakeeb el-Ashráf (or chief of the descendants of the Prophet) … married a daughter, about forty-five years since, there walked before the procession a young man who had made an incision in his abdomen, and drawn out a large portion of his intestines, which he carried before him on a silver tray. After the procession, he restored them to their proper place, and remained in bed many days before he recovered from the effects of this foolish and disgusting act. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 308

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the scaffold of Orientalism itself — Lane’s account of ‘degraded’ Egyptian customs exemplifies the ethnographic gaze that Said dissects throughout the book; relevant to later Islamophobia readings on how Western ethnography framed Muslim practice as pathology. — connects to: Edward Lane’s canonical ethnography of Egypt began as a camera-lucida drawing project — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 107; Lane’s 1830s ethnography catalogued Egyptian vices to justify colonial labour discipline — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 345; Early Egyptian conscription produced mostly unfit men who self-mutilated to escape — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 478 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Illustrates how the Orientalist text manufactures its own evidence of Eastern ‘fanaticism’ through selective, horrified reportage.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 308
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Edward Lane’s canonical ethnography of Egypt began as a camera-lucida drawing project — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 107; Lane’s 1830s ethnography catalogued Egyptian vices to justify colonial labour discipline — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 345; Early Egyptian conscription produced mostly unfit men who self-mutilated to escape — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 478 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Veiling and ritual bodily acts train the self into piety #complicates (0.73)