dr. Elif Keskiner

My research broadly falls under the areas of ethnic and migration studies, sociology of education and youth sociology, with a focus on social inequalities. I am particularly interested in how ethnic, social class and gender inequalities are (re)produced or overcome applying a comparative lens. 

I started working on social inequalities during my PhD studies. My monograph “Youth Transitions among Descendants of Turkish Immigrants in Amsterdam and Strasbourg”, which is a mixed methods comparative study is published by Springer- IMISCOE series. Throughout my PhD and my post-doc projects, I have worked on understanding the social and institutional structures that avail development of forms of capital among (young) people with limited resources. I co-edited the special issue   “The Upcoming New Elite Among Children Of Immigrants” on socially mobile descendants of Turkish migrants ( with Maurice Crul, Vrije Universiteit).  I have published articles in journals including Ethnic and Racial Studies, Comparative Migration Studies and Journal of Education and Work.  My book project with Louise Ryan and Michael Eve on “Revisiting Migrant Networks” won the Springer Book Prize. 

I am active in the IMISCOE research network as a co-coordinator of Standing Committee on Education and Social Inequalities. 

Methodologically, I have often engaged with a variety of methods and in comparative projects. While I would define myself as a qualitative sociologist, I have also hands-on experience in survey design and advanced statistical analysis as well as in mixed-methods studies.  

From 2018 till 2023 I worked as a senior researcher in the international Becoming A Minority (BAM.eu) project where my colleagues and I studied social cohesion and inter-ethnic relations in superdiverse neighborhoods in majority-minority cities. This time I concentrated on how superdiverse neighborhoods provide a context for developing contact between people with and without a migration background.BaM project inspired my current interest to work with parents with and withouth a migration background and their interactions in mixed-school diverse environments. 

Currently I am undertaking a small research project about parenting in diverse settings.  In 2022 I have received an NWO XS grant for my project Parenting Diversity to conduct research in diverse school settings. In this project I scrutinize the experiences of parents ( with and without a migration background) in dealing with racial,ethnic and class differences in diverse schools and neighborhoods. I am especially engaging with critical race theories and parenting around racism in diverse contexts. 

Next to my parenting diversity project, I am co-leading the consortium " Amsterdam All-Inclusive"  funded by Kennis Centrum Ongelijkheid.  In this project we are bringing together the expertise of various societal and scientific partners on understanding and illustrating accumulation of social inequalities in Amsterdam.