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Muslim‐American Scripts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Saba Fatima
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Abstract

This paper argues that one of the most valuable insights that Muslim‐Americans ought to bring into the political arena is our affective response to the government of the United States' internal and foreign policies regarding Muslims. I posit the concept of empathy as one such response that ought to inform our foreign policy in a manner inclusive of Muslim‐Americans. The scope of our epistemic privilege encompasses the affective response that crosses borders of the nation‐state in virtue of our propinquity to the narratives of Muslims globally. Such an affective response is crucial to our selves remaining multiplicitous and whole. Furthermore, I argue that we ought to access and assess those aspects of our identity that make us subject to suspicions of disloyalty, because it is precisely those aspects that can inform our social and political discourse in a more morally adequate and responsive way.

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Hypatia , Volume 28 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Crossing Borders Special Issue , Spring 2013 , pp. 341 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by Hypatia, Inc.

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Lisa Tessman for her guidance with numerous drafts of this paper and Andrés Molina‐Ochoa for his helpful commentary. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for Hypatia and Sally Scholz, who helped improve the quality of the work tremendously.

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