Sudanese service credentials were viewed with suspicion by Cairo authorities

Evidence

Two days after my return to Cairo I went to the Bureau of War wearing my uniform, and I met Shahin Pasha, the minister of military and naval affairs. He seemed friendly and easy with me, but after we drank coffee together, he asked me, with a surprised and astonished look on his face, “So you’ve achieved the rank of colonel?” I told him yes. He then asked me from where had I come, and I responded the Sudan. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 518

Categorization

• SEED: The theme of a colonial frontier career being unrecognized or disbelieved by the metropole could anchor an essay on credentialing and imperial hierarchies.