Homo islamicus emerged from Enlightenment racial typologies hardened by eugenics-era essentialism

Evidence

In the late eighteenth century, numerous revolutions brought forth notions of human equality, secularism, anti-slavery, and democracy and ushered in a process where capitalism would shape global relations. While Spain had held sway during the era of mercantile imperialism, Britain would lead the transition to capitalist imperialism and assume dominance in the imperial arena, building a vast empire in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that spanned the globe. It is in this context that Orientalism as a body of thought tied directly to the project of colonial control was elevated. While equality was enshrined as a principle fought for in various revolutions, the now “free” colonizing nations denied democratic rights to the people they subjugated. This was the context for the racialization of Muslims. It was built on the notion that civilizations had an “essence” that marked the evolution of people across time producing races of people with fixed and immutable characteristics. Their inability to grow beyond a certain point justified colonial intervention, which, it was claimed, would lead to upliftment. Moreover, capitalism set limits on the expansion of rights. As economist Samir Amin has observed, “Enlightenment thought offer[ed] us a concept of reason that is inextricably associated with that of emancipation. Yet, the emancipation in question is defined and limited by what capitalism requires and allows.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 185 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

My key argument is that notions of race and of Muslims as inferior beings could come to the fore in a context where European nations were in a position to actually challenge and eventually dominate once-powerful Muslim empires. While Muslims occupied a liminal position between inferior and superior in imperial Spain in the early modern era, this would give way to outright inferiority in the nineteenth century. Thus, while protoracism existed before the nineteenth century, it is capitalist imperialism that sets the terrain on which Enlightenment notions of race were deployed. I argue that two conditions were needed for the production of Muslims as a race: colonial domination and “free” liberal societies. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 105 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Late-nineteenth-century Darwinian race science underpinned homo islamicus typologies; Enlightenment race theory about Muslims required colonial dominance and liberal societies — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 105; Muslim racialization merges learned cultural traits with bodily essentialism (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Homo islamicus as a separate human type emerged only in the nineteenth century #corroborates (0.85)
• The racialization of Muslims was anchored in Enlightenment-era colonial ideologies #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 185
• Enlightenment race theory about Muslims required colonial dominance and liberal societies #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 105
• Muslim racialization merges learned cultural traits with bodily essentialism #expands (0.75)
• Capitalist imperialism plus liberal societies produced Muslims as a full race #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 117