Orientalist scholarship varied internally but shared the racial category

Evidence

In sum, the Orientalist view of the East as it emerged in the nineteenth century was based on a racial and civilizational vilification of Muslims. This is not, however, to suggest that Orientalist scholarship existed or was used in colonial contexts without contradiction. There were Orientalists who rejected notions of racial superiority; at the same time, however, they agreed that race was a useful category of analysis. There were those who admired Islam and others who disparaged it; some actively aided the colonial mission while others saw themselves as producing objective knowledge. Orientalist ideas were used differently in various contexts. Put simply, the relationship between Orientalist thought and the project of empire-building is complex. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 132

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the earlier ‘complex’ finding about Drake/Spanish material — empire and ideology rarely reduce to a single logic. — connects to: Academic study of Islam only began with Orientalism’s language training; Fantasy tropes shaped how Orientalism constructed Jewish and Muslim men; Orientalist scholarship conflates Muslims and Jews into one racial type (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Inconsistencies in colonial racial categories reveal latent distinctions rather than errors #expands (0.55)
• Egyptian nationalism and colonialism became linked through racial difference #expands (0.50)
• Orientalist Muslim dehumanization legitimizes colonial and imperial adventures #corroborates (0.50) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 44