Napoleon’s failed Egyptian invasion modeled scholarly exploitation for later empires

Evidence

For my purposes here, the keynote of the relationship was set for the Near East and Europe by the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798, an invasion which was in many ways the very model of a truly scientific appropriation of one culture by another, apparently stronger one. For with Napoleon’s occupation of Egypt processes were set in motion between East and West that still dominate our contemporary cultural and political perspectives. And the Napoleonic expedition, with its great collective monument of erudition, the Description de l’Égypte, provided a scene or setting for Orientalism, since Egypt and subsequently the other Islamic lands were viewed as the live province, the laboratory, the theater of effective Western knowledge about the Orient. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 132 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

This is not to say that knowledge about the enemy was not essential in earlier periods. Even during medieval times, European rulers gathered accurate information about Muslim kingdoms through spies, officials, and informants in order to develop martial strategies. They did not, of course, share this knowledge with the public. Instead, they used the vitriolic rhetoric of the Holy Wars to motivate the Crusades and the Reconquista. While this general method persists even in the twenty-first century, what Napoleon’s invasion inaugurated was the systematic use of scholarly knowledge to serve the needs of empire, both abroad and at home. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Vast scholarly knowledge of Egyptians was compiled without native input to serve French domination; Napoleon’s 1798 invasion inaugurated the systematic use of scholarly knowledge to serve empire; Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt modeled scientific cultural appropriation — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 132 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt modeled scientific cultural appropriation #corroborates (0.93) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 132
• Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire #corroborates (0.93) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106
• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt inaugurated knowledge-production as an imperial instrument #corroborates (0.92)
• Napoleon’s 1798 Egypt invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonization #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 105
• Napoleon’s 1798 invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonial conquest #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 164
• Napoleon’s Egyptian conquest modeled the civilizing mission on scholarship, preparation, and justification #corroborates (0.87)
• Colonialism fused military conquest, scholarly knowledge production, and a justifying ideology #expands (0.85)
• Napoleon’s 1798 Egyptian campaign founded modern Orientalism #expands (0.75) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 381
• Napoleonic scholarship framed Egypt entirely through its ancient European-connected past #expands (0.72) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 223