Orientalist civilizational essentialism is a pillar of race making

Evidence

“Orientalists divided human societies into civilizations that have a core set of values that drive their progress (or lack thereof). The people who inhabit these civilizations were said to have a cultural ‘essence’ that explains who they are across time. Essentialism of this sort is one of the pillars of race making.” Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: 20 Years after 9/11 (Verso, 2021), 19. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1277

Categorization

• XREF: This is Kumar’s empire-based thesis, the very global-synthesis text the reader is reading alongside — a direct doc link between the two sources. — connects to: Civilizational identity is fluid, not fixed or walled off — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 232; Orientalist scholarship conflates Muslims and Jews into one racial type; Emphasizing essential cultural difference feeds the clash-of-civilizations frame — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 256 (+18 more)
• ADDENDUM: The imperial epistemology claim connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ essay’s examination of how Western caricatures drive moral panics about Muslim dress.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1277

Broader Connections

• Cultural practices become racialized when they are essentialized as innate to Muslims #expands (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 274
• Civilizational theory defined all non-Western peoples as inferior by default #expands (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 121
• Orientalism imagined Muslims as a monolithic Arab or Middle Eastern racial bloc. #exemplifies (0.70) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161
• Orientalist scholarship varied internally but shared the racial category #qualifies (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 132
• Racism is a structural feature of European civilization, not the exception of colonial adventurers #expands (0.60) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 338
• Orientalist Muslim dehumanization legitimizes colonial and imperial adventures #expands (0.60) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 44
• Racialization can proceed from cultural traits without any phenotypic difference #expands (0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 88
• Racialism pervaded Western consciousness before and beyond capitalism #complicates (0.50)
• Racial distinctions operate as active structuring principles, not mere historical residues #expands (0.50)