Nineteenth-century rural Egyptians equated high office exclusively with Turkishness, not blackness

Evidence

Very much to Alï Mubärak’s surprise, the high-ranking commissioner, Anbar Effendi, was black. In his own words, `Alï Mubärak could not wrap his mind around this inversion of social and cultural hierarchies: … I looked at him and saw that he was black, Abyssinian, as if he were a Mamluk’s slave. Yet he was both magnanimous and dignified. I saw how the shaykhs and judges of the area stood before him, and how he counseled them. I stayed around until they had gone, and then entered his chamber and kissed his hand. … I was shocked by their behavior in his presence. I never would have imagined nor even heard of such a thing. I had always thought that the ruling classes only included Turks; this was the custom during those days. So, I remained shocked and confused that these dignitaries stood before a slave and kissed his hand. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 254

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader Egypt-Sudan coloniality comparison: this racialization of authority is a distinctly Egyptian (Ottoman-Turkish) hierarchy, contrasting with how rule was constituted further south.
• SHARE: A vivid anecdote that a person interested in racial hierarchies within Ottoman Egypt would appreciate.