Egyptian colonial failure in Sudan stemmed from not understanding local customs.

Evidence

The governor really had to understand those whom he governed. This was why, according to al-Zubayr, the Egyptian government (the Turks, as he and other Sudanese termed the government) was never able to hold on to the Sudan. They did not possess any understanding of the Sudanese “and treated them as if they were the inhabitants of Cairo, or Istanbul.” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 565

Categorization

• QUESTION: How does al-Zubayr’s self-serving explanation compare with the received historiography of Egyptian failure in Sudan?
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader framework of distinct shades of coloniality and to the metaphor of treating governed peoples as metropolitans.
• ADDENDUM: Supports the reader’s Egypt-Sudan comparison: a governed-subject explanation of one colonial project’s failure vs. techniques another employed.