Blood Sacrifice and the Myth of the Fallen Muslim Soldier in US Presidential Elections after 9/11

Abstract

One ultimate sign of political assimilation is the willingness of citizens to sacrifice themselves in battle for their nation. This chapter reveals the promise and limits of US liberalism by examining how the blood sacrifice of two fallen soldiers—Kareem Khan and Humayun Khan—was imagined in mythic terms during the US presidential elections of 2008 and 2016. The chapter argues that in focusing on the incorporation of foreign Muslim blood into the nation, American politicians offered a partial, ambiguous acceptance—one that both included and excluded Muslims from the American body politic. It explains how the racialization of Muslim Americans render even sacred acts of assimilation ineffective in the struggle for political assimilation.