Charlotte B. and Jack J. Spitzer Department of Social Work
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
My life before BGU:
I was born and raised in Ofakim, my beloved hometown. I began my career at Ben-Gurion University in the pre-academic preparatory program, followed by bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral studies at the Spitzer Department of Social Work. After that, I continued to postdoctoral studies at the School of Social Welfare at the Hebrew University, where I researched the development of social work students’ attitudes and perceptions about violence against women in relationships. I am now returning to BGU after spending several years as a lecturer in the School of Social Work at Sapir College.
My research:
My doctoral research dealt with the responses of disenfranchised communities to conditions of marginality and exclusion. My case study was the Beer-Sheva community of ‘mountain’ Jews from the Caucuses, among whom I did years of fieldwork. I joined them on an emotional trip to revisit their roots in Georgia and have been greatly affected by them. This led me to conduct community studies aimed at distilling knowledge, sometimes alternative, derived from the community’s experience with hardship, social problems, marginality, and exclusion. In recent years, I have been engaged in developing, applying, and implementing ‘photovoice’ methods in community studies and am working on establishing the Israel interdisciplinary photovoice research lab.
Why BGU?
First, coming to Ben-Gurion University is coming home. Furthermore, it’s no secret that BGU is known as a very engaged place. During my university studies, I was involved in many social projects, and I am happy to return, this time as a researcher, to a wonderful department that houses researchers who are groundbreakers in their fields.
An insight from my research:
Simply put, as a researcher, I love meeting people. I love delving into their lives beyond the one-time encounter of an interview; and becoming involved in joint projects that require long-term engagement.
Something that doesn't appear on my CV:
I enjoy becoming engrossed in carpentry or cooking projects that inevitably run into trouble mid-way, yet somehow always miraculously yield a lovely product (this is actually pretty similar to the research process).
A source of inspiration:
Both my late parents are a source of inspiration for me - in their engagement with society and the community, and also as models of modesty and altruism.
When I grow up:
As a child I dreamed of being a professional basketball player (I nearly made it). Today, I dream of making photovoice available as a tool to different communities, especially families with special needs children, and, of course, to influence social policy on the ground.
If I wasn’t a researcher, I would...
I guess I would be a physical ed teacher or basketball coach (maybe both).
In Brief:
» Fauda or Big Brother? Fauda
» Yoga or CrossFit? Basketball
» Hapoel or Maccabi? Hapoel Beer-Sheva (soccer) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (basketball)
» Ravid Plotnik or Noa Kirel? Amir Benayoun
» Steak or tofu? In principle, steak, though I have recently become open to tofu
» Trekking or the spa? Emm… I guess spa (once I discover what that is)
» Car or train? Car
» Classical Europe or India? India
» Ocean or pool? Ocean
» Night or morning? Morning, early hours
» Winter or summer? Winter, and Spring too
» City or country? Country
» Film or play? A good TV series
» Phone call or text message? Phone conversation
» Savory or sweet? Hot and sour
» Android or iPhone? iPhone
» Cat or dog? Dogs (preferably several)
» Facebook or Twitter? Facebook
