Abstract
This article explores Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist in the context of debates about US multiculturalism after 9/11. It suggests that while Hamid's novel undoubtedly identifies and critiques the racism at the heart of the so‐called war on terror – expressed both in domestic and foreign arenas – his text also appears to be seduced by certain aspects of American exceptionalism. Though the novel in part paints US imperial power as heir to the European colonial legacy, I argue that The Reluctant Fundamentalist also invests in the possibility that America might represent the transcendence of racial differences.
Notes
1. See Hamid, “It Had to be a Sign”.
2. See Haddad.
3. See Mukherjee.
4. See Harlow and Dundes; and Dawson, Lacewell, Cohen.
5. See Obama, Dreams From My Father (299–302).