Egyptian nationalist theater appropriated Nubian identity while preserving colonial-era social hierarchies

Evidence

This point both adds and subtracts from the message of the play and others like it. Osman must constantly stand up for his own dignity against the continued racial differentiations that other Egyptian characters lob at him, just as Sad Zaghlül resisted the authority of the British. But neither Osman nor the politicians of 1919 questioned the actual social hierarchies that the British had used to their advantage to solidify control. In fact, in none of the plays I examined did Osman abd al-Basit ever question the higher social rank of Egyptians or insist on his right to greater upward social mobility. His simple pleas for respect are significant, but the actor’s identity as an Egyptian, in Nubian disguise, presumes and appropriates an understanding of Nubian and Sudanese sentiment. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 915

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how colonized Egyptians simultaneously resisted British rule yet reproduced internal racial hierarchies against Sudanese/Nubians — a layered coloniality contrast relevant to the reader’s Egypt-vs-Sudan comparative goal.
• DEFINE: Shows how anti-colonial resistance in Egypt did not entail challenging the racialized social stratification the British relied upon.