Slavery’s legacy underpinned Egyptian nationalist discourse about the Sudan

Evidence

Unfortunately, though, these powerful stereotypes of the colonial relationships between Egypt, Great Britain, and the Sudan muted the much more sensitive issue of the influence of slavery and its legacy for Egyptian and Sudanese societies. One crucial theme of this study is the underlying centrality of slavery in the historical relationship between Egypt and the Sudan. None of the many figures discussed in this book lived untouched by slavery. It was intimately connected to their personal and cultural identities, often as a profound part of their childhoods and their families. As I have tried to show, such histories colored the symbol, even the name, of the Sudan itself. While nationalist thinkers and writers discussed the integration of the Sudan with Egypt, they in some way spoke about the many cultural traditions inherited from generations of trade in Sudanese slaves. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 1062

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Both British and Egyptian nationalists framed guardianship of Sudan as paternalistic custody over slaves — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 693