Cultivating Empathy and Resonance for Muslim Lives Through Affective Images of the Chapel Hill Victims

Abstract

This article examines the creative projects that circulated in digital media following the murder of three Muslim college students in Chapel Hill, NC, in February 2015. Through an engagement with affect theory and digital mourning studies, this article critically analyzes the limitations of affect in the digital moment, as the complex lives of the victims were reduced to simple but highly resonate icons. Despite the limitations of these affective icons, I argue that the contradictory emotions of successful happiness and unimaginable grief that adhered to these images enabled Muslims to cultivate feelings of resonance. At the same time, Muslims were expected to perform constant affective labor to prove the worth and equality of their lives. Finally, my analysis of this case illustrates how these heavily affective images reinforced that Muslim lives are only valued if they are positive, harmless and apolitical.