Returning Egyptian exiles defined national identity using European critical criteria

Evidence

Despite the pride in his native tongue that his stay overseas instilled in him, Sanüa learned to view his native country with the perspective of an outsider. He turned a new eye on other Egyptians and their circumstances: the position of women, the plight of the fallah, the poverty of street beggars, the humor of entertainers, and the frustration of soldiers. Using criteria learned in Europe, he began to define "Egyptian-ness," beginning with language as the first and largest building block. In this sense, Sanüa was very much a man of his times. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 353