Colonial Hierarchy and Coöptation
-
In India under British colonial rule, caste-based hierarchies were upheld and reinforced by colonial authorities, nominally as a projection of the rigid class system in place in the British Isles itself. Undoubtedly, though, this structure was set in place to follow with the colonial strategy of 'divide and conquer', so as to exploit and manufacture class-based differences with the ends of preventing the expression of solidarity between the victims of imperialism across social boundaries. This system, across the world, was used by the same imperialist machine, under the same empire (at the time), to oppress the African slaves that had been brought to be exploited in the Americas. Though it had a notable different face—by which groups from across the African continent were deliberately mixed in order to prevent any communication, let alone revolt—the same system as in South Asia reared its ugly head in eighteenth-century colonial America.
One of the first examples Diouf gives in her chapter on Muslim resilience in the Western Hemisphere is that of Ayuba Suleyman Diallo. Diallo, a Muslim Fula Prince from inland Senegal, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Maryland, and by means of his education and knowledge of Arabic, was after many trials able to procure his freedom to return via England to his homeland in Senegal.
In parallel with Bald's account of the self-orientalisation of Black Southerners in order to escape their violent mistreatment, the account of Diallo's life serves to show that the colonial project of racial exploitation was one which was open to and interested in the delineation of sub-castes of oppressed people, and a Muslim identity proved useful in its coöptation. As Diouf recounts, too, Yarrow Mamout was able to make use of this system of exoticist orientalism in order to retain his identity as a Black Muslim in the deeply Catholic society of Maryland. However, as GhaneaBassiri notes, "African Muslims were painfully aware of the oppressive linkage slavery reinforced between one’s color and humanity" (21). A profound consciousness of the system of racial dynamics imposed by white slaveowners meant that some, like Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua and Nicholas Said, fought against the stereotypes imposed upon their people. Others, however, further coöpted the racial hierarchy and orientalism towards 'Mahometans' by explicitly distancing themselves from others who shared their perceived skin colour. Ultimately, however, as GhaneaBassiri finds, this was merely a strategy of self-preservation in the face of the violent reality of the racial dynamics of their surroundings.