The Mahdist revolt provides a quandary: why did Africans revolt against imperialism in defense of slavery? This study approaches the issue by analyzing the life of Zubayr Pasha, most well-known of Sudanese slave-traders in the decades leading to the Mahdist Revolt. What I found in interviews with him, parliamentary debates over him, articles about him, and proclamations concerning him, was that the emotional responses to his story show different perspectives on the processes of overlapping imperialisms, voluntary slavery, and a host of integrated issues. To himself he was a trader, a businessman working within the letter of the law; to others he symbolized either native brutality or realpolitik. The implications of this work are a new understanding of slavery and imperialism as more subtle and more related concepts than they are usually given credit for, making the Mahdist revolt less mysterious.
","abstract_html":"<p>The Mahdist revolt provides a quandary: why did Africans revolt against imperialism in defense of slavery? This study approaches the issue by analyzing the life of Zubayr Pasha, most well-known of Sudanese slave-traders in the decades leading to the Mahdist Revolt. What I found in interviews with him, parliamentary debates over him, articles about him, and proclamations concerning him, was that the emotional responses to his story show different perspectives on the processes of overlapping imperialisms, voluntary slavery, and a host of integrated issues. To himself he was a trader, a businessman working within the letter of the law; to others he symbolized either native brutality or realpolitik. The implications of this work are a new understanding of slavery and imperialism as more subtle and more related concepts than they are usually given credit for, making the Mahdist revolt less mysterious.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Berman, Zachary S"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Simon Davis"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Timothy Alborn","Elena Frangakis-Syrett"],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-02-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-02-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:57Z","subjects":["African History","European History","History","Islamic World and Near East History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1779","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Simon Davis"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Timothy Alborn","Elena Frangakis-Syrett"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Berman, Zachary S"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-12-08T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["African History","European History","History","Islamic World and Near East History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1779"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The Mahdist revolt provides a quandary: why did Africans revolt against imperialism in defense of slavery? This study approaches the issue by analyzing the life of Zubayr Pasha, most well-known of Sudanese slave-traders in the decades leading to the Mahdist Revolt. What I found in interviews with him, parliamentary debates over him, articles about him, and proclamations concerning him, was that the emotional responses to his story show different perspectives on the processes of overlapping imperialisms, voluntary slavery, and a host of integrated issues. To himself he was a trader, a businessman working within the letter of the law; to others he symbolized either native brutality or realpolitik. The implications of this work are a new understanding of slavery and imperialism as more subtle and more related concepts than they are usually given credit for, making the Mahdist revolt less mysterious.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Owing and Owning: Zubayr Pasha, Slavery, and Empire in Nineteenth-Century Sudan"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Simon Davis"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Timothy Alborn","Elena Frangakis-Syrett"],"dc:creator":["Berman, Zachary S"],"dc:date.available":["2016-12-08T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The Mahdist revolt provides a quandary: why did Africans revolt against imperialism in defense of slavery? This study approaches the issue by analyzing the life of Zubayr Pasha, most well-known of Sudanese slave-traders in the decades leading to the Mahdist Revolt. What I found in interviews with him, parliamentary debates over him, articles about him, and proclamations concerning him, was that the emotional responses to his story show different perspectives on the processes of overlapping imperialisms, voluntary slavery, and a host of integrated issues. To himself he was a trader, a businessman working within the letter of the law; to others he symbolized either native brutality or realpolitik. The implications of this work are a new understanding of slavery and imperialism as more subtle and more related concepts than they are usually given credit for, making the Mahdist revolt less mysterious.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1779"],"dc:subject":["African History","European History","History","Islamic World and Near East History"],"dc:title":["Owing and Owning: Zubayr Pasha, Slavery, and Empire in Nineteenth-Century Sudan"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:57Z"}