Her research addresses the interaction of the state, economy, religious organizations and social movements. In her dissertation she investigated how and why moralized markets emerge and expand. Specifically, by focusing on Islamic economy in the post-Soviet Central Asian context, Aisalkyn explains its expansion as a political process of contestation among various social movements and their allies, rather than simply a state-driven or a bottom-up identity project. Aisalkyn's past research has been funded by the Aga-Khan Foundation, Open Society Foundations as well as Hazeltine Fellowship of the Business, Organizations and Entrepreneurship Program at Brown University. The results of her past individual and collaborative projects have been published in Theory & Society, Families, Relationships and Societies and Central Asian Survey, among other journals.