Stereotypes become dominant colonial ideology only once empire gains material power

Evidence

Orientalism as a colonial discourse could reach maturity only after England had acquired the military and technological capacity to dominate the world. Its actual ability to build a vast empire that stretched the globe created the conditions for a form of racialization that had previously existed as stereotypes in the literary sphere to become a dominant ideology of colonization. This ideology, however, did not get reproduced exactly since it was shaped by the conditions of the post-Enlightenment period becoming more secular in orientation. While the “savage” Indian was interchangeable with the “savage” Muslim going back to the seventeenth century, as Matar argues, late eighteenth and nineteenth century racialization acquired a more capitalist gloss, with commercial needs eclipsing the drive to conversion, a hallmark of early modern imperialism. The eighteenth century English author, Daniel Defoe of Robinson Crusoe fame, captured this shift in his call for British domination of Muslim lands based not on Christian zeal but market needs. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 153

Categorization

• XREF: Feeds the MOC thread on ‘what actually breaks the loop’ — if representation becomes ideology only when backed by material capability, then refusing representation’s hold requires attacking the material capability, not the ideas alone. Echoes earlier passages (ch7) about anti-Muslim racialization awaiting actual imperial domination. — connects to: English empire turned literary anti-Muslim stereotypes into dominant colonization ideology — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 153; Colonial racism generalized aristocratic superiority to justify empire and shore up domestic class rule — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 571; Colonialism advanced state formation by racially ordering the colonized exterior — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1530 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial racism generalized aristocratic superiority to justify empire and shore up domestic class rule #expands (0.82) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 571
• Capitalism conserving non-capitalist modes produces racial and colonial ideologies. #qualifies (0.80)
• Colonial conquest is redeemed in the conqueror’s mind by ideology #expands (0.78)
• Colonialism advanced state formation by racially ordering the colonized exterior #qualifies (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 1530
• Postcolonial Orientalism preserved colonialist residues under altered forms of power. #qualifies (0.72) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 467
• The doctrine of progress makes colonialism appear natural rather than impositive #expands (0.72) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 217