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Turkce- Munazarat Sempozyumundaki konusmam: http://vimeo.com/40345635
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I am a cultural sociologist focusing primarily on Islam and social theory.
I work in three main registers: American Islam, social theory, and the Muslim intellectual tradition. My forthcoming book, Finding Mecca in America: How Islam is Becoming an American Religion (University of Chicago Press, 2012) explores how Islam is articulated as an American religion.
My work in social theory is driven by a sense that contemporary sociology is lacking a degree of self-awareness and can be revitalized by reconnecting it with its philosophical presuppositions. Towards this end, I read widely in both sociology and philosophy, placing particular emphasis on the works of Simmel, Heidegger, and Bourdieu.
I also see great value in exploring the intersections and resonances of Western and Islamic philosophy and social thought. Within the Muslim intellectual tradition, I am interested particularly in the works of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1876-1960).
I am currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at John Jay College, City University of New York. I teach courses on social theory and seminars on a variety of topics. I have designed and taught graduate- and undergraduate-level courses on Islamophobia, “Rethinking Violence,” and “Social Theory and Islam,” among others.
Selected publications:
Finding Mecca in America: How Islam is Becoming an American Religion, University of Chicago Press, 2012, forthcoming [Based on a dissertation which was a finalist for the ASA Best Dissertation Award in 2009]
“Homeland Insecurity: How Immigrant Muslims Naturalize America in Islam,” Comparative Studies in Society and History (53:3), 2011.
“Being Targeted, Being Recognized: The Impact of 9/11 on Arab and Muslim Americans,” Contemporary Sociology (40:2), 2011 [review essay].
“Muslim Ethnic Comedy: Inversions of Islamophobia,” in Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend, A. Shryock, (ed.), Indiana University Press, 2010.
“Said Nursi’s Moral Philosophy,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (19:1), January 2008.
“Conversion out of Islam: A Study of Conversion Narratives of Former Muslims” (with M. Khalil) The Muslim World, January 2007.
“Ummah and Empire: Global Formations after Nation,” pp.313-327, in Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
