Elite Egyptian households cultivated love from enslaved servants as a family tradition

Evidence

Sharawï respected one tradition begun by her grandfather and continued by her father, which was to make sure that one was loved by one's slaves and servants. … The embodiment of this was the obedient yet authoritative black eunuch of Sultan Pasha's household, Lala Saïd Agha, guardian of the children, the last word among the other servants, and the overseer of the children’s education. Saïd Agha was suspicious of Sharawï’s interest in Arabic grammar and refused her wish to be tutored further in it, saying,“There’s no reason for grammar … because she is not going to be a lawyer ever!” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 850

Categorization

• QUESTION: How does an ideology of beloved-envelope enslavement coexist with the violence of the eunuch’s castration and capture? The memoir is silent — worth chasing.