My primary research interests are in the areas of migration and identity, the cultural politics of mourning and commemoration, and borders, violence, and sovereignty. More specifically, I study how migratory experiences shape racialized identities in Europe, how nations come to terms with and commemorate acts of political violence and terrorism, and the biopolitical logics of contemporary border control.
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My first book manuscript, Dying Abroad: The Political Afterlives of Migration in Europe (under review), is an ethnographic study of how immigrant communities navigate death and dying in countries where they face systematic barriers to political inclusion. Building on multi-sited fieldwork in Berlin and Istanbul, during which I worked as an undertaker in several Islamic funeral homes, it illustrates how the seemingly quotidian practices surrounding the burial of racial and religious minorities are structured by deeper political questions about the meaning of citizenship and belonging in an increasingly transnational world.
Photo: An Islamic funeral in Berlin |
A second strand of my research focuses on the cultural politics of mourning and commemoration. I am especially interested in how nations memorialize acts of political violence and terrorism and in the ways in which grief rituals shape collective identities.
I have explored these issues in the context of the Boston Marathon bombing (right), the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, and the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. Please see my publications page for links to my writing.
My current research focuses on biopolitical strategies of border enforcement in Europe and the United States.
Photo: Protestors demonstrating against the burial of
Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston
I have explored these issues in the context of the Boston Marathon bombing (right), the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, and the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. Please see my publications page for links to my writing.
My current research focuses on biopolitical strategies of border enforcement in Europe and the United States.
Photo: Protestors demonstrating against the burial of
Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston