Race and ethnicity rivaled wealth in Egyptian social hierarchy

Evidence

The issue of Sudanese overstepping these social boundaries reappears, in much more detail, in the play Abü Rida wa Kab al- Khayr (Abü Rida and Kab al-Khayr). In this play, people from both the highest strata of society and the peasant class raise their eyebrows at what they perceive to be Sudanese presumptions of social airs. The play shows starkly how race and ethnicity competed with wealth and family name in Egyptians’ construction of society. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 363

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on racial hierarchies in Egypt and the positioning of Sudanese/Nubians as a subordinate group, echoing concepts from comparative colonial studies relevant to the reader’s Egypt vs Sudan project.
• QUESTION: How did Egyptian constructions of Sudanese race compare with how British colonial administrators racialized the same groups? Worth chasing in colonial administrative sources.