Nineteenth-century Orientalism traded Enlightenment universalism for a hierarchy of civilizations.

Evidence

Many Orientalists, however, developed images of Muslim and Arab peoples that either perpetuated medieval stereotypes or else reflected more contemporary assumptions, bolstered at times by appeals to science, about the intrinsic cultural and even racial superiority of Europeans over Muslims. An example of the latter type of thinking can be found in the work of Ernest Renan, a French philologist and scholar of religion. In many ways, he represented the growing tendency in much of nineteenth-century Orientalism to move away from Enlightenment universalism, which tended to stress commonalities between all human beings (including Muslims), and toward a worldview that emphasized the fundamental differences between civilizations, with Western civilization seen as inherently superior to Islamic civilization. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 193

Categorization

• QUESTION: Marks the epistemic shift from universalist commonality to essentialist difference — a plausible hinge for the curdling into race thinking.
• XREF: Parallels the shift in late-century racial anthropology from environmentalist to hereditarian accounts of difference. — connects to: Eighteenth-century thinkers believed in one universal French-inspired civilization.; Colonial ideology combined fiscal self-interest with Enlightenment trade beliefs.; Tempels’s work ended Enlightenment claims that Africans lack reason, while subtle prejudice persists (+20 more)

Broader Connections

• Nineteenth-century Europe traded Enlightenment universalism for imperialist superiority #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 119
• Colonial expansion and Orientalist essentializing emerged together in the nineteenth century. #expands (0.80) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 201
• The eighteenth century made abstract universal humanity sacred over particular persons #qualifies (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 532
• Nineteenth-century Orientalism portrayed Islam as a monolithic, fixed, inferior essence. #expands (0.75) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 194
• Nineteenth-century Orientalism essentialized Muslims as intrinsically inferior during colonial expansion. #expands (0.70) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 201
• The clash of civilizations theory rearticulated the Orientalist binary of Islam versus the West. #expands (0.60) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 217
• Every imperial power since the Enlightenment has invoked the white man’s burden #expands (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 200
• The 1920s civilizing mission abandoned universal egalitarianism for hierarchy #exemplifies (0.55)
• US post-war hegemony repurposed Orientalism and modernization theory to justify empire. #expands (0.55) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 28
• American Orientalism is the living root system that drives Islamophobia. #expands (0.55) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 168
• Romanticism projected an exotic Orientalist fantasy rather than accurate knowledge #corroborates (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 89
• Napoleon’s 1798 Egyptian campaign founded modern Orientalism #complicates (0.50) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 381