Napoleon’s Egyptian conquest modeled the civilizing mission on scholarship, preparation, and justification

Evidence

This model of enlightened colonialism had three aspects. First, the colonizer must prepare thoroughly before launching the invasion so as to be well set up to handle obstacles. Second, it should enlist scholars to work alongside soldiers in the colonizing process. Napoleon took with him about 160 scholars to help with the day-to-day process of colonial administration and create a body of knowledge about Egypt for French use. Third, the colonizing nation must develop a justifying rationale. France, having just thrown off the yoke of its oppressive feudal monarchy, believed its mission to be one of restoring Egypt to its former greatness. We see here the precursors of what would come to be known as mission civilisatrice, or the “civilizing mission.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 153

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines the three structural components of enlightened colonialism and traces the origin of the ‘civilizing mission’ concept.
• XREF: Connects to Edward Said’s Orientalism and to the general theme of knowledge production serving imperial power.

Related

• Napoleon’s 1798 Egypt invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonization (similarity 0.85)
• Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition was colonial aggression, not merely a European strategy move. (similarity 0.85)
• Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition converted Enlightenment ideas into a concrete colonial blueprint. (similarity 0.85)
• Napoleon’s expedition deliberately taught Egyptians imperial ambition (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonial conquest (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon turned Enlightenment philosophy of civilization into a concrete colonial program (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign introduced large-scale advance textual preparation to Orientalist projects (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s geographers aimed to instill an active imperial sense in Egyptians (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt inaugurated knowledge-production as an imperial instrument (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s expedition spawned both a scientific and a geopolitical Orientalist project. (similarity 0.83)
• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion inaugurated the systematic use of scholarly knowledge to serve empire (similarity 0.82)
• Knowledge about the colonized became central to conquest only with Napoleon’s 1798 invasion (similarity 0.82)
• Colonial scholarship amassed vast knowledge about Egypt without any native input. (similarity 0.82)
• Colonial scholarship displaced natives’ own self-understanding with the colonizer’s vision (similarity 0.82)
• Napoleon institutionalized Orientalists and co-opted religious leaders into colonial administration (similarity 0.82)