Nilüfer Göle

Nilüfer Göle is Professor of Sociology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, where her work critically examines the intersection of religion, migration, and public space in European democracies. She investigates how Muslim citizens negotiate religious identity through visible practices like Islamic covering, prayer, and dietary habits, challenging conventional frameworks of multiculturalism.

Her core research interests include:

• Sociology of Religion
• Migration and Ethnic Studies
• Gender Studies
• Multiculturalism
• Public Sphere Theory
• Islamic Studies

Göle argues that diversity discourse often reifies social differences without addressing power dynamics and stigmatization, emphasizing instead the agency of migrant populations in reshaping cultural boundaries. She advocates expanding sociological analysis to incorporate visual art, aesthetics, and urban space as critical sites for understanding religious visibility and identity politics beyond traditional identity-based frameworks.