cultural foundations of collective belonging
Hagia Sophia, İstanbul
This research area explores how religion, nationalism, ethnicity, and collective memory shape collective belonging via a focus on symbolic boundary-making and the ways in which cultural trauma and contested pasts inform collective identities and narratives of nationhood.
A major focus of this research has been the relationship between religion, ethnicity, and national belonging. This includes my book Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds, and the Limits of Religious Unity (Oxford University Press, 2021), as well as a 2018 article in Qualitative Sociology on symbolic boundary-making in Turkey’s Kurdish conflict. I have also published, with Phil Gorski, two articles on the relationship between nationalism and religion. The first, titled "Religion, Nationalism, and Violence: An Integrated Approach" was published in the Annual Review of Sociology in 2013. The second, titled, "Religion, Nationalism and International Security: Creation Myths and Social Mechanisms" was published in the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Security in 2012. A recent review article, “Nationalism and Religion: Making Sense of a Complex Relationship” (Studies on National Movements, 2024), provides a synthesis of debates on religion and nationalism, tracing classical approaches, theories of religious nationalism, and ongoing conceptual developments.
My broader interest in nationalism and national identity formation has also resulted in work on Lebanese confessionalism (Yale Review of International Affairs, 2011), cultural trauma and Turkish national identity (Nations and Nationalism, 2013), and comparative research on cultural trauma and political elites in Israel and Turkey (The Sociological Quarterly, 2020, with Shai Dromi). Current work extends this line of inquiry via a working paper entitled Speaking through the Past: Collective Memory and Discursive Repertoires of Opposition, which examines how collective memories are mobilized in contemporary political contestation and opposition movements. Another paper, co-authored with Sinem Adar and currently in progress, examines the relationship between nationalism and populism and develops the concept of “emotional disintegration” to explain contemporary political polarization.
A major focus of this research has been the relationship between religion, ethnicity, and national belonging. This includes my book Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds, and the Limits of Religious Unity (Oxford University Press, 2021), as well as a 2018 article in Qualitative Sociology on symbolic boundary-making in Turkey’s Kurdish conflict. I have also published, with Phil Gorski, two articles on the relationship between nationalism and religion. The first, titled "Religion, Nationalism, and Violence: An Integrated Approach" was published in the Annual Review of Sociology in 2013. The second, titled, "Religion, Nationalism and International Security: Creation Myths and Social Mechanisms" was published in the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Security in 2012. A recent review article, “Nationalism and Religion: Making Sense of a Complex Relationship” (Studies on National Movements, 2024), provides a synthesis of debates on religion and nationalism, tracing classical approaches, theories of religious nationalism, and ongoing conceptual developments.
My broader interest in nationalism and national identity formation has also resulted in work on Lebanese confessionalism (Yale Review of International Affairs, 2011), cultural trauma and Turkish national identity (Nations and Nationalism, 2013), and comparative research on cultural trauma and political elites in Israel and Turkey (The Sociological Quarterly, 2020, with Shai Dromi). Current work extends this line of inquiry via a working paper entitled Speaking through the Past: Collective Memory and Discursive Repertoires of Opposition, which examines how collective memories are mobilized in contemporary political contestation and opposition movements. Another paper, co-authored with Sinem Adar and currently in progress, examines the relationship between nationalism and populism and develops the concept of “emotional disintegration” to explain contemporary political polarization.
spatial and social foundations of collective belonging
This research area examines migration, mobility, and citizenship, focusing on how individuals negotiate collective belonging across political and geographic boundaries. It moves beyond simplified binaries of “immigrant” and “host society” to examine the diversity of identity formation and boundary-making among mobile populations.
A particular focus of this work has been on migrants from Turkey and Syria in Germany. Through interviews and participant observation, I have explored how migrants define themselves, how they respond to externally imposed categories, and how different markers of difference—including religion, ethnicity, nationality, and class—shape experiences of belonging. This research has resulted in an article exploring intra- and inter-group diversity among immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and challenging homogenising categories (International Migration Review, 2024).
More broadly, I am interested in the categories through which migration and diversity are discussed. In an article published in Ethnic and Racial Studies (2024), I introduce the concept of “categorical astigmatism” to critique the scholarly tendency to conflate religion, ethnicity, and nationality in the study of migrants in Europe, while overlooking the role of class. The article argues for greater conceptual clarity and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches to the study of collective belonging.
A second line of inquiry examines the relationship between mobility and political change. Under that rubric, an article in International Migration (2026), entitled “Democratic Decline and Return Migration: What Motivates Highly-Skilled Voluntary Return to Post-2016 Turkey?”, investigates highly skilled return migration to Turkey in the context of democratic decline and conceptualizes voluntary return migration as “voice” (à la Hirschman), linking mobility decisions to changing political and institutional conditions. Another paper, currently in progress, entitled “Paradise Lost? Imagined and Experienced Europe among Highly-Skilled Migrants from Turkey,” looks at the relationship between migrants’ pre-migration imaginaries of Europe and their lived experiences after arrival, highlighting the role of expectations, belonging, and disillusionment in shaping migration trajectories.
A particular focus of this work has been on migrants from Turkey and Syria in Germany. Through interviews and participant observation, I have explored how migrants define themselves, how they respond to externally imposed categories, and how different markers of difference—including religion, ethnicity, nationality, and class—shape experiences of belonging. This research has resulted in an article exploring intra- and inter-group diversity among immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and challenging homogenising categories (International Migration Review, 2024).
More broadly, I am interested in the categories through which migration and diversity are discussed. In an article published in Ethnic and Racial Studies (2024), I introduce the concept of “categorical astigmatism” to critique the scholarly tendency to conflate religion, ethnicity, and nationality in the study of migrants in Europe, while overlooking the role of class. The article argues for greater conceptual clarity and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches to the study of collective belonging.
A second line of inquiry examines the relationship between mobility and political change. Under that rubric, an article in International Migration (2026), entitled “Democratic Decline and Return Migration: What Motivates Highly-Skilled Voluntary Return to Post-2016 Turkey?”, investigates highly skilled return migration to Turkey in the context of democratic decline and conceptualizes voluntary return migration as “voice” (à la Hirschman), linking mobility decisions to changing political and institutional conditions. Another paper, currently in progress, entitled “Paradise Lost? Imagined and Experienced Europe among Highly-Skilled Migrants from Turkey,” looks at the relationship between migrants’ pre-migration imaginaries of Europe and their lived experiences after arrival, highlighting the role of expectations, belonging, and disillusionment in shaping migration trajectories.
institutional foundations of collective belonging in the digital age
Digital network connection map
This research area examines how digital technologies are reshaping the institutional foundations of collective belonging. It particularly focuses on how emerging forms of digital governance challenge established relationships between citizenship, sovereignty, and territory, and what these developments mean for contemporary understandings of political membership and the nation-state.
Within this framework, I explore these questions through a comparative study of digital transformations of the nation-state, focusing on the ways states use technological infrastructures
Within this framework, I explore these questions through a comparative study of digital transformations of the nation-state, focusing on the ways states use technological infrastructures