The Muslim “Hajji” as a Catalyst of Unraveling Imperialist Discursive Laundering in Rudyard Kipling’s “A Deal in Cotton”

The current study aims to investigate the discursive dynamics that account for prolonging the imperial enterprise in one of Kipling’s usually overlooked texts, “A Deal in Cotton” (1907). The uniqueness of this tale lies in exhibiting the ideological basis whereby the imperial practices in African colonies are rationalized. This ideology is exhaustively materialistic as imperial officials do not refrain from commercializing all that is at their disposal. However, drawing on a Foucauldian theoretical framework, the study unveils the intricate processes wherein such imperial practices become intertwined with the enigmatic character of Ibn Makarrah, whose presence exclusively enables the imperialists to proceed in their imperial undertaking. Because Ibn Makarrah happens to be their perilous, powerful adversary, imperial officials tend to discursively obliterate, recycle, and reintroduce him as a painstakingly different character who is simply dubbed the “Hajji” and whose ensuing characterization is discursively permissible. This shadowy process, which the study labels “discursive laundering,” allows Adam to springboard into securing the funds, land, and labor power required for his materialist project. The importance of the study’s findings lies in uncovering the narrative mechanisms whereby anti-discursive constructs are converted into discursively legitimate ones in a way that reinforces imperialism in the story.