ELISABETH BECKER is a Freigeist Fellow at the Max-Weber-Institute-for-Sociology, Heidelberg University. She is a cultural sociologist trained at Cornell University (BA in Sociology), Oxford University (MSc in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies), and Yale University (MPhil and PhD in Sociology). Elisabeth previously held an Ad Astra/Assistant Professor position in Sociology at University College Dublin, and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Religion & Its Publics project and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. Elisabeth was also Principal Investigator in the MAP-NYC project, showing the widespread, positive impacts that Muslims have on New York City.
Elisabeth's research centers on the cultural construction and contestation of borders and boundaries. Her research explores the experiences and place-making practices of religious, racial, and ethnic minorities— Muslims and Jews in particular—in both Europe and the United States. Elisabeth has contributed to sociological debates on how migration and pluralism shape contemporary societies, including the continued exclusions faced by Muslims in Europe through a theory of incivility and undercaste status; and the agency of Muslim and Jewish populaces to foster social change in the urban centers of Europe and the United States. Her book Mosques in the Metropolis: Incivility, Caste, and Contention, (University of Chicago Press, 2021) offers a unique look into two of Europe's largest urban mosque communities, providing a complex picture of Muslim life, while highlighting the failures of European pluralism. Elisabeth's research has been generously supported by numerous funders, including: the Volkswagen Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, the Academy for Islam in Research and Society, and the Religious Research Association.
Elisabeth's work has appeared in various scholarly publications, including: Ethnic & Racial Studies, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, American Journal of Cultural Sociology, European Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, and Social Science & Medicine. Elisabeth is also a public scholar who works with non-profit organizations (e.g. the New America Foundation, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies) and writes for mainstream publications to communicate research to a public audience. Her writing has appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Religion & Politics, and Tablet Magazine, and she has been featured on BBC Radio. She speaks German and Spanish fluently, and also can speak Turkish moderately.
Elisabeth Becker is a 2021 recipient of a Landecker Fellowship for her project Inscribing Plurality which in 2022 will unite young Jews and Muslims (age 18-25) who live in Berlin and are interested in a career in journalism/writing to pen both their future and the future of our society together.
ARTICLES:
The Tablet People of the Books (also featured in Lit Hub Daily 8 October 2021)
The Tablet The Jewcomer
A Beautiful Perspective Married to the Stranger Within Your Gates
The Washington Post Peace Baby or Trump Target? A Mother's Dream of Jewish-Muslim Unity Turns into Fear
The Washington Post Blinded by the Israel-Palestine conflict, American Muslims and American Jews overlook the need for domestic unity
Forward I Moved to Berlin and Found my Jewish Identity
The Washington Post, What it's like to see my husband's mosque set on fire
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