Sanüa clearly defines who is an Egyptian by the way his characters speak, but he is not as clear when it comes to the Sudanese or Nubians. In plays and other representations of the time, the Sudanese were just as con- stant a source of laughter when they spoke. But with the Sudanese, many of whom spoke Arabic as their native tongue, the linguistic stereotyping as- sumes another dimension in assertions of Egyptian authority. … There emerges, then, a linguistic tutorial between Egyptian and Nubian in Sanüa’s work, in which the Egyptian instructs the latter in how to speak his native tongue. The lessons are dictated by educated, middle- to upper-class Egyptians. This tutorial reinforces the intimate ties between Egyptian and Sudanese cultures while also repeating the pattern and goals of domination established by both the khedive’s foreign policy and the traditional employment of the Sudanese as servants in Egyptian homes. … Just as interesting is his attribution of the Nubian’s arrogance to the gentlemen (khawajät) who “spoil” people like him, elevating them to positions for which Faraj perhaps sees himself better suited, which calls to mind the mis- sion of civilizing the Sudan assumed by the Egyptian government.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 362