I am a cultural sociologist examining how macro-scale historical, cultural and political developments inform questions of belonging and identity-formation in multicultural societies. My research interests stand at the intersection of politics and religion, as they relate to questions of identity, migration, diversity, and citizenship.

Under that rubric, my research focuses on how religious,
ethnic and national identities intersect, intertwine and
compete with each other in different political and social contexts. I also conduct research on cultural politics of nationalism and national identity formation through a comparative-historical lens. I mainly employ qualitative methods, such as interviews, participant observation,
historical institutional analysis, and discourse analysis. In addition to academic publications I occasionally write
​opinion pieces for non-academic outlets.

Currently I work as a researcher at RWTH Aachen University's Sociology department. I received my PhD in Sociology from Yale University in 2016. My book, Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds, and the Limits of Religious Unity, came out from Oxford University Press in 2021. For further information about my research please see my CV.