Our PhD Candidate Mohammed Zulkarnain Successfully Defends His Dissertation “Interracial Marriage Between Blacks and White Turks in Türkiye”

Our Sociology PhD candidate Mohammed Zulkarnain successfully defended his doctoral dissertation supervised by Prof. Alev Erkilet and titled “Interracial Marriage Between Blacks and White Turks in Türkiye: An Intersectionality of Race, Class, Migration, and Religion” on June 12, 2026, and earned his doctorate degree.

The study examines interracial marriages between Black African male migrants and White Turkish women in Türkiye through the lens of intersectionality, focusing on race, class, migration, and religion. It explores how these couples meet, how their unions are formed, and how families and society respond, as well as the broader social and individual implications of these relationships.

Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 Black African male migrants married to White Turkish women, the findings show that racialization plays a central role in these relationships, while social identities are shaped through multiple intersecting factors such as migration status, religion, and race.

The thesis highlights that in the Turkish context, Muslim identity often facilitates social acceptance, whereas race and migration status produce more complex social meanings. This study therefore emphasizes the importance of rethinking intersectionality within specific sociocultural contexts.

We congratulate Mohammed Zulkarnain on this significant academic achievement and wish him continued success in his academic career.