Indigenous peoples were passive victims, not agents, of colonial experiments.

Evidence

In terms of “agency,” design, thinking, contrivance, manipulation, and overall conception, the indigenous peoples had nothing to do with these experiments other than being victims of European ingenuity. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 43

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing whether Hallaq engages with scholarship on indigenous complicity, collaboration, and shaping of colonial projects—his strong agency claim seems to sidestep that literature.