BGU Launches First Bedouin Research Database
BGU Launches First Bedouin Research Database
April 28, 2011
Negev Development & Community Programs, Press Releases
BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL April 28, 2011 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is launching the first research database of professional literature on Bedouin society in the Negev region of southern Israel.
The comprehensive Bedouin research electronic database will house a large number of scholarly articles that can be downloaded for free and provide detailed information on other research listed in the system. The database contains listings in English, Hebrew and Arabic and will be updated every six months. It includes research articles published in Israel and abroad, masters and Ph.D. theses, news articles and books.
The project is part of the ongoing efforts of The Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development to promote and encourage research on this unique community as well as education within the community of 180,000 Negev Bedouins. It was conceived and funded by Robert H. Arnow, a New York City real estate executive and chairman emeritus of the University’s board of governors.
The BGU Center also serves as a liaison with the Bedouin community. It provides a platform to study Bedouin heritage as well as the challenges and changes confronting the Negev Bedouin society, through academic research and public discussion. The Center prides itself in having many highly educated members of the Bedouin community involved in research, debate and decision-making concerning societal difficulties of their own community.
BGU places special emphasis on providing higher education opportunities for Bedouin students, helping them academically and financially. During its first decade, the Bedouin Center played a central role in providing tuition grants for female Bedouin students as well as a variety of support programs which led to more than two hundred Bedouin women graduating in various academic departments. A number of these students have earned advanced degrees including Dr. Rania Okby Abed El-Hady, Israel’s first female Bedouin medical doctor. Prior to the Center, only a few female students received degrees.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
For all press inquiries, please contact:
James Fattal, J Cubed Communications
516.289.1496
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