Egyptian law drew conscription boundaries by Nubian versus Sudanese parentage

Evidence

But black people fell into a different and much vaguer category. Whether they were Nubian or Sudanese, a single identity was projected onto them: that of al-barbarï, or the Nubian, whose color, customs, and accent Egyptian writers sketched out in numerous essays, dialogues, and stories. It is impor- tant to note here the distinction between Nubians and Sudanese. In the nineteenth century, the native homelands of Nubians extended from Upper Egypt to the northern Sudan, in the Wadi Halfa-Dongola region. Many Nubians did not speak Arabic at home, and they picked up what vocabulary they could when working in the cities of Egypt. Many Sudanese from the North came to Cairo as native speakers of Arabic. It was rare indeed for such a distinction to be made, so that in the work of most Egyptian writers of the period it is hard to find a Sudanese eloquent in spoken classical Arabic. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 311 (#expands, via linked claim)

43. This speech is delivered in a thick accent, with certain Arabic letters left unpronounced. Regarding the character’s identification as a Nubian, some con- temporary critics of nineteenth-century Arabic literature translate the widely used word barbarï as berber, but my study of contemporary dictionaries (i.e., Socrates, A Dictionary of the Colloquial Arabic of Modern Egypt), as well as proverbs and the patterns of trade and migration between Egypt and the Sudan, make Nubian seem a more accurate translation. Berber is located just north of Atbara, which was a major trade center in the nineteenth century. There were also instances in the 1800s of the term Barabra being used inaccurately to refer to people in the Nuba mountains of the western Sudan, which was then an area of frequent slave-trading with Egypt. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 1107 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

Related

• Egyptians conflated Nubian, Sudanese, and Ethiopian identities in racial terms (similarity 0.89)
• Nineteenth-century Egyptians collapsed Nubians and Sudanese into one ‘barbari’ identity (similarity 0.88)
• Nineteenth-century Egyptian usage labeled Sudanese people Nubian rather than Berber (similarity 0.86)
• Egyptian writers collapsed Nubian and Sudanese into one racial type. (similarity 0.85)
• Egyptian colonial courts and press conflated Nubian, Sudanese, and Ethiopian identities (similarity 0.83)
• Nubians and Sudanese differed linguistically but Egyptians erased the difference. (similarity 0.79)
• Sudanese slaves themselves contested imperial labels by asserting Arab identity over black identity (similarity 0.79)
• The Sudan’s ethnic divisions outweighed its religious and linguistic ties to Egypt (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian identity was tied to Arabic fluency, which black slaves lacked. (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian nationalists actively used European race discourse to frame views on Sudan (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian writers ranked Sudanese tribes on a racial scale of savagery. (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian writers framed Egyptian rule as a civilizing force over a wild Sudan (similarity 0.79)
• Sudanese migrants to Egypt were confined to subservient domestic roles despite their integration efforts (similarity 0.78)
• Egyptian nationalists framed Sudan as family bound to Egyptian dictates, silencing Sudanese protest (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Egyptians conflated Nubian, Sudanese, and Ethiopian identities in racial terms #expands (0.70)
• Egyptian writers erased the Nubian-Sudanese distinction under one stereotype #expands (0.60) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 311
• Nineteenth-century Egyptian usage labeled Sudanese people Nubian rather than Berber #complicates (0.50) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 1107