Former Sudanese slaves sometimes credited masters for civilizing them

Evidence

Bakhïta concedes that she finds pleasure in freedom. But still she laments, “We came from our country like beasts [zay al-bahä´im], and it was our masters who taught us about Islam [al-kaläm wa al-hadïth] and taught us about cleanliness, food, drink, how to dress and how to speak properly, since we spoke in a way that no one could understand.” Continuing to praise the kindness of her masters, Bakhïta recounts how she was like a daughter to her mistress—“If my master tried to beat me, she would argue and yell at him.” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 682

Categorization

• XREF: Recalls the ‘civilizing mission’ rhetoric the Sudanese speaker has internalized, mirroring how colonized subjects adopt the colonizer’s narrative of their own backwardness.