The seminars were facilitated by Dr. Julia Lerner and Dr. Galia Plotkin Amrami
28.11.2022
Workshop: Brazilians in Israel.
In collaboration with The Interdisciplinary Department, The Department for Hotel and Tourist Management, BGU.
Coordinator Debbie Chaimovich-Yehoshafat, Ph.D. candidate, teacher of Portuguese and Spanish, BGU.
Brazilian immigrants in Israel have not been sufficiently researched, yet they are very interesting and unique group of immigrants. The aim of the workshop was to draw attention to Brazilians who live in Israel since the 50-ties. The workshop addresses the question how their cultural characteristics are expresses in the Israeli public space in general and in the sphere of food in particular.
Attachment – “Workshop Brazilians"
program(hebrew)
17.1.2022
Kick-off meeting: Presentations of ongoing research projects by center participants, ideas for discussion, expectations.
(Attachment: Seminar 1 - 17.1.2022 Kick off meeting)
In this meeting, a number of participants, students and staff, presented projects they were working on and subjects they were curious to explore in our seminars. Among subjects that were suggested were: the association between personal biographies and researchers' interest in migration research, specific immigrant\refugee groups (such as immigrants from South America, immigrants from Hungary etc.), similarities and differences between trans-national and inter-national migrations, issues in migrants' identity, the role of media in memory creating, immigration experiences in art etc. Based on this session, the center staff planned the contents of the Seminar for 2022 and 2023.
10.4.2022
Refugees and Immigrants in the war in Ukraine
(Attachment: Seminar 2 - 10.4.2022 Refugees and Immigrants in the war in Ukraine)
This seminar was organized ad-hoc in view of the war in Ukraine (the theme planned was postponed to the next session). The presenters were:
Rachel Ishai, a Ph.D. student volunteered as a social worker offering emotional support to Ukrainian refugees in a refugee camp on the border of Ukraine and Poland. Rachel described her work and experiences, the difficult situation in these camps, and grave personal and professional dilemmas that aid providers deal with.
Lina Rozin-Lifshitz, a Ph.D. student is a member of the leading team of an online network created by Israeli, Russian speaking mental health professional that provides emotional support to Ukrainian refugees worldwide and in Israel, as well as supervision to mental health professionals in refugee camps and in Ukraine. Lina described some cases of those who asked for help and dilemmas as to the future activity of the network.
Varvara Prater and Dr. Julia Lerner presented their research on the situation in Russia and on immigrants from Russia who flee their country in fear of coming repressions and limitations of freedom of speech of those who disagree with Putin's policy.
15.5.2022
Personal history and migration research
(Attachment: Seminar 3 - 15.5.2022 Between the personal and the academic)
This meeting was planned based on the analysis of subjects raised and suggested in the kick-off meeting. It was postponed making room for addressing current events in the Ukraine. Two texts were suggested to the participants as a background for the discussion:
· Treacher, A. (200), Welcome home: between two cultures and two colours. In A. Brah & A. Coombs (Eds), Hybridity and Discontents, Rutledge, London, UK.
· Poznanski, R. 2018 Born in Paris. In. M. Bragança & F. Louwagie (Eds.), Ego-histories of France and the Second World War, The Holocaust and its Contexts
Prof. Rene Poznanski was a guest participant and presented her thoughts on the interplay of her personal biography and her research on holocaust refugees.
Prof. Julia Mirsky, talked about personal experiences as an immigrant that shaped her as a migration researcher.
Prof. Ilana Rosen presented her thoughts and comparative perspective on the papers of Poznanski and of Treacher.
13.11.2022
Seminar: The voice and the memory in the lives of migrants and refugees.
Dr. Yael Gordon, Post-Doc at the Department of Communication presented ……
Ayala Klein-Kohen, Ph.D. Candidate, presented……
Dr. Noam Tirosh, Discussant, Department of Communication
In this meeting Dr. Gordon presented two of her studies on the voice of refugees, men and women, as it is expressed in different media. Her projects explored how the refugee's voice can become a basis for the establishment of the refugee's subjectivity and a sense of home. Ayala Klein-Kohen presented a case study of a facebook group of illegal immigrants from Cyprus and their offspring that demonstrated the unique characteristics of digital platforms in commemoration.
