About
I am a Political Science PhD candidate at the University of Michigan and a Visiting Researcher with the Group for Research on Ethnic Relations, Migration and Equality (GERME) at the Free University of Brussels. I study issues of religion, identity and representation, with a focus on how the state interacts with religious minorities in advanced democracies. My dissertation covers the provision of state benefits to Muslim communities at the sub-national level in Belgium and the Netherlands. I seek to explain why sub-national governments vary in their accommodation of Islam despite operating within shared legal frameworks, and in doing so identify the political determinants shaping state-Islam relations. I then turn to the political behavior of religious leaders, and examine when and how Muslim leaders decide to cooperate with or shun state-led accomodation efforts.
Fields of Study:
- Comparative Politics
- European Politics
- Identity & Representation
- Religion & Politics
