Ayelet Oreg
Biographic Data
| ID | 266574 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ayelet Oreg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ayelet |
| FAMILY NAME | Oreg |
| SIGNATURE | OREG A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Bar-Ilan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4859-7961 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Spraying the horror: Street art as social response to collective trauma
This study examines street art created in Israel following the October 7, 2023 massacre and the ensuing war through the lens of Terror Management Theory (TMT). Using digital ethnography and visual analysis, we examined 237 street artworks created across Israeli cities during the first six months following the attack. The artworks reflected heightened mortality salience and existential anxiety through recurring visual symbols, captions, and commem…
Spousal Kidney Donations in Israel: Religious and Psychoanalytic Perspectives
In the existing literature on living kidney donation, most studies address either individual altruistic donations to strangers or familial and friendship-based donations within established social ties. The phenomenon explored here diverges from both: married couples in which each spouse independently donates a kidney to an unknown recipient. This dual altruistic donation, carried out separately yet within the shared framework of marriage, illumin…
Mimetic violence and wartime organ donation between Israeli Jews and Palestinians
This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding how wartime organ donation can both interrupt and reinforce cycles of mimetic violence. Drawing on René Girard's mimetic theory, we analyze ethnographic and interview-based material collected between August 2021 and October 2022 from three cases of cross-community organ donation between Israeli Jews and Palestinians during armed conflict, examining how donor families and recipients fra…
Human milk for cancer care: Science-in-extension and gendered digital labor
This qualitative case study examines how human milk is framed, negotiated, and justified as a therapeutic resource for adults with cancer within a large digital peer-to-peer human milk-sharing community. Drawing on discourse analysis of posts and comment threads from an online group dedicated to milk donation for oncology patients, the study analyzes how participants construct therapeutic meaning in a context marked by biomedical uncertainty and …
Living Kidney Donation in Israel: The Lived Experiences of Donors’ Partners in Faith-Based Communities
This study explores the lived experiences of spouses of altruistic kidney donors in faith-based communities in Israel. While not undergoing the surgical procedure themselves, spouses are deeply involved in the donation process, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually, yet their perspectives remain largely overlooked within healthcare systems and religious discourse. Drawing on interpretive phenomenological analysis and informed by an ecologica…
Archaeology and Secondary Trauma Stress Recovery for Social Workers in Shelters for Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence
Social workers in domestic violence shelters face chronic exposure to traumatic narratives, often resulting in secondary traumatic stress. This study examines archaeological pottery restoration as a citizen-science intervention supporting resilience among shelter-based social workers. Five licensed social workers participated in a 3-month program combining hands-on restoration with reflective dialogue, conducted during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war u…
A new heterotopia: Reconfiguring presence and absence between life and death in an era of liquid modernity
Examining the emerging epistemic shift in Western society's relationship with death, this article contends that contemporary cultural-technological practices are reconfiguring life-death binary experiences. Drawing on Foucault's concept of heterotopias and Bauman's theory of liquid modernity, we explore how the boundaries between the living and the dead are reconfigured through hybrid spaces of posthumous proximity. Through three illustrative pra…
Milky bonds: Exploring Solidarity in Human Milk Banking
This study examines how Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) biobanks foster solidarity among donors, volunteers, and communities, transforming individual prosocial behaviors into collective action. I define solidarity as mutual recognition of common goods based on shared similarities that unites individuals through intentional participation, distinguishing between rhetorical claims and practical expressions of solidarity. Thr…
I am a guest man in a world of women: The lived experiences of gay fathers utilizing human milk donations for their babies
We are all Hersh: Grief, solidarity, and identity in a football fan community
This study examines how a sports fan community reconfigured its identity in response to collective trauma. Focusing on Hapoel Jerusalem fan community, and Brigade Malcha (in Hebrew"בריגדה מלחה") the organized supporters of Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club, the research investigates the transformation triggered by the kidnapping and murder of fan Hersh Goldberg-Polin during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. Drawing on brand community theory and cult…
As long as they remember me, I am alive”: Commemoration and memory through stickers
This study explores the phenomenon of memorial stickers commemorating victims of the October 7, 2023, massacre and subsequent Israel-Hamas war. Analyzing 600 stickers collected across Israel, we examine how these artifacts shape personal and collective memory of these tragic events. Using content analysis, visual data analysis, and ethnography of texts, we investigate the stickers' distribution, textual content, and visual elements. Three key fin…
Families of organ donors between Jews and Arabs in Israel during a military operation: Constructing meaning through participation in an epistemic Community - Media analysis of two cases
This study explores how bereaved families of organ donors become participants in an 'imagined epistemic community' of organ donor families, amidst a national conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Utilizing a media case study approach, we identified factors contributing to the creation of this bi-national community and examined what the families received in return for their part. Additionally, we explored the reasons behind the community spli…
Embodied memories - exploring memorial tattoos through the lens of terror management theory
The analysis highlights existential anxieties stemming from the massacre and ongoing conflict, which are both reflected and addressed through the tattoos' content and meaning. Memorial tattoos serve as responses to mortality salience, depicting themes that adhere to the three anxiety-buffer mechanisms proposed by the theory: reinforcement of collective worldviews; enhancement of self-esteem; and seeking continued attachment relationships. Through…
Spontaneous war weddings as a reaction to a national trauma: A terror management theory perspective
On 7 October 2023, 3,000 Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel. Over 1,300 people were killed on that day, and over 240 were abducted to Gaza. On October 8, Israel declared war on Hamas. The current study delves into the prevailing phenomenon of spontaneous war weddings held in military settings during the war. Drawing from Terror Management Theory (TMT) and utilizing an ethnographic approach, we analyze published media reports …
Being a Surrogate Partner: The Challenges of Fragile Boundaries
Surrogate partner therapy is a type of treatment in which the surrogate partner (SP) works in a triadic setting with a sex therapist and a patient. At the same time, the SP acts as an intimate surrogate partner to the patient. The SP treatment includes a range of therapeutic experiences such as relaxation, intimate communication, sensual and sexual contact, and training for the acquisition of social skills. In the current study, we ask what and h…
Understanding posthumous sperm retrieval during war through a terror management theory perspective
Performances of Hope and Despair: A Case Study of Organ Donation Between a Palestinian and Israeli Jew Amidst War
We explore the phenomenon of organ donation between rivals in time of war when a significant gift such as organ donation is given not just to a "stranger" but to a stranger who may be considered an enemy. This is a case study of a unique organ donation event that occurred in Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. It involved a Palestinian boy killed by a Jewish policeman and a Jewish man killed by Palestinian youths. Both vict…
‘Whose Milk Was It, Really? … It Was a Gift, a Savior, a Healer, and a Connector’: Reflections on a Collaborative Autoethnography of Breastmilk Donation after Stillbirth
I am a great birther. Even my first birth, which lasted 37 hours and was nothing close to easy, was, from my perspective, a great one ... My stillbirth experience, on the other hand, wasn’t so great. It was raw, bleeding, crying, begging for forgiveness; (literally) gut-wrenching, life-changing, and transformative ... A few days after giving birth to my dead baby, my milk had fully come in ... That morning, I pumped 100 ml of real, infant milk. I…
Written on milk: Exploring messages written on donated human-milk bags
Every so often, among the bags of breast milk sent for donation to milk banks, clear bags of milk are found that are hand decorated and accompanied by short texts written by donating mothers. In the bank labs, the milk is poured into pasteurisation containers, and the bags are thrown away. The milk comes to the neonatal ward packed in bar-coded bottles. Both donor and the recipient are anonymous to one another. To whom are the donating mothers wr…
“So, whose milk was it? … It became all of ours, together”: A relational autoethnographic study of an interactional human milk donation process through bereavement
Most of the research on human milk donations after prenatal loss has focused on donations to milk banks in which donors and recipients are anonymous to each other. In contrast, in this Israel-based study, we focus on an ongoing, direct interaction between a bereaved donor and recipients who adopted a new baby. We conducted a relational autoethnography, wherein multiple researchers present their life experiences and interpersonal contexts and mean…
Ultra-Orthodox Lesbian Women in Israel: Alternative Family Structures as a Bridge between Religious and Sexual Identities
The Jewish ultra-Orthodox community enforces strict rules concerning its members' way of life and demands that their identities be consistent with that of this conservative community. However, such congruence does not exist for ultra-Orthodox women who identify as lesbians. Drawing on social representation theory, this study examines the unique family structures that lesbian ultra-Orthodox women in Israel have adopted to accommodate their conflic…
Digital Ethnography in Third Sector Research
Ethnographies involve the exploration of social phenomena in the field, typically for an extended period of time. Traditionally, ethnographers listen to, observe, and directly communicate with the subjects of their research. At its essence, ethnography is about storytelling, and the data are collected through human interaction. With the development of new technologies, and with the plethora of social media platforms, the manner in which many stor…
Does effective altruism drive private cross-border aid? A qualitative study of American donors to grassroots Ingos
Given the multitude of outlets to which individuals can give their time and money, why do Americans donate to international causes? This research ties into larger discussions about the changes in the aid architecture and the role of private aid in particular. The contributions of the article are twofold. First, we seek to better understand how certain individual donors come to give to international development aid. Second, we discern altruistic m…
When the gift is halfhearted: A socio-cultural study of ambivalence in a charity sport event
Taking a culturally sensitive approach, we set out to explore the social response to, and the cultural adoption of, charity sport events in Israel, where this phenomenon is relatively new and understudied. We show that charity sport events participation is accepted with mixed feelings: participants are motivated by their novice athletic aspirations and love for bike riding, and by their emotional connection to the cause, but at the same time are …
Lost and Found in Upstate New York: Exploring the Motivations of “Lost Boys” Refugees as Founders of International Nonprofit Organizations
This research examines engagement in diaspora philanthropy through the lens of Lost Boys of Sudan and their founding of small international nonprofit service organizations based in the United States. We seek to understand refugees’ motivations to take upon themselves leadership roles in their local United States communities and in the provision of goods and services to their homeland, South Sudan. By becoming founders of international service non…
Milk donation after losing one's baby: Adopting a donor identity as a means of coping with loss
The grief ritual of extracting and donating human milk after perinatal loss
Understanding posthumous sperm retrieval during war through a terror management theory perspective
As long as they remember me, I am alive”: Commemoration and memory through stickers
This study explores the phenomenon of memorial stickers commemorating victims of the October 7, 2023, massacre and subsequent Israel-Hamas war. Analyzing 600 stickers collected across Israel, we examine how these artifacts shape personal and collective memory of these tragic events. Using content analysis, visual data analysis, and ethnography of texts, we investigate the stickers' distribution, textual content, and visual elements. Three key fin…
Embodied memories - exploring memorial tattoos through the lens of terror management theory
The analysis highlights existential anxieties stemming from the massacre and ongoing conflict, which are both reflected and addressed through the tattoos' content and meaning. Memorial tattoos serve as responses to mortality salience, depicting themes that adhere to the three anxiety-buffer mechanisms proposed by the theory: reinforcement of collective worldviews; enhancement of self-esteem; and seeking continued attachment relationships. Through…
Spontaneous war weddings as a reaction to a national trauma: A terror management theory perspective
On 7 October 2023, 3,000 Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel. Over 1,300 people were killed on that day, and over 240 were abducted to Gaza. On October 8, Israel declared war on Hamas. The current study delves into the prevailing phenomenon of spontaneous war weddings held in military settings during the war. Drawing from Terror Management Theory (TMT) and utilizing an ethnographic approach, we analyze published media reports …
Digital Ethnography in Third Sector Research
Ethnographies involve the exploration of social phenomena in the field, typically for an extended period of time. Traditionally, ethnographers listen to, observe, and directly communicate with the subjects of their research. At its essence, ethnography is about storytelling, and the data are collected through human interaction. With the development of new technologies, and with the plethora of social media platforms, the manner in which many stor…
Does effective altruism drive private cross-border aid? A qualitative study of American donors to grassroots Ingos
Given the multitude of outlets to which individuals can give their time and money, why do Americans donate to international causes? This research ties into larger discussions about the changes in the aid architecture and the role of private aid in particular. The contributions of the article are twofold. First, we seek to better understand how certain individual donors come to give to international development aid. Second, we discern altruistic m…
Lost and Found in Upstate New York: Exploring the Motivations of “Lost Boys” Refugees as Founders of International Nonprofit Organizations
This research examines engagement in diaspora philanthropy through the lens of Lost Boys of Sudan and their founding of small international nonprofit service organizations based in the United States. We seek to understand refugees’ motivations to take upon themselves leadership roles in their local United States communities and in the provision of goods and services to their homeland, South Sudan. By becoming founders of international service non…
Ain't No Hood Like Motherhood”: The Complexity of Human Milk Donor Identity
Objective This article draws on the literature of bodily gifting, the motivations for milk donation, and donor identity to explore human milk donation in the context of nonprofit milk banks. We ask: What are the characteristics of the milk donor identity? Methods We qualitatively analyze written testimonials and images produced by human milk donors during the time of their milk donation. Results We found that milk donors comprised complex identit…
We are all Hersh: Grief, solidarity, and identity in a football fan community
This study examines how a sports fan community reconfigured its identity in response to collective trauma. Focusing on Hapoel Jerusalem fan community, and Brigade Malcha (in Hebrew"בריגדה מלחה") the organized supporters of Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club, the research investigates the transformation triggered by the kidnapping and murder of fan Hersh Goldberg-Polin during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. Drawing on brand community theory and cult…
Milk donation after losing one's baby: Adopting a donor identity as a means of coping with loss
Lost and Found in Upstate New York: Exploring the Motivations of “Lost Boys” Refugees as Founders of International Nonprofit Organizations
This research examines engagement in diaspora philanthropy through the lens of Lost Boys of Sudan and their founding of small international nonprofit service organizations based in the United States. We seek to understand refugees’ motivations to take upon themselves leadership roles in their local United States communities and in the provision of goods and services to their homeland, South Sudan. By becoming founders of international service non…
Ain't No Hood Like Motherhood”: The Complexity of Human Milk Donor Identity
Objective This article draws on the literature of bodily gifting, the motivations for milk donation, and donor identity to explore human milk donation in the context of nonprofit milk banks. We ask: What are the characteristics of the milk donor identity? Methods We qualitatively analyze written testimonials and images produced by human milk donors during the time of their milk donation. Results We found that milk donors comprised complex identit…
The grief ritual of extracting and donating human milk after perinatal loss
Digital Ethnography in Third Sector Research
Ethnographies involve the exploration of social phenomena in the field, typically for an extended period of time. Traditionally, ethnographers listen to, observe, and directly communicate with the subjects of their research. At its essence, ethnography is about storytelling, and the data are collected through human interaction. With the development of new technologies, and with the plethora of social media platforms, the manner in which many stor…
Does effective altruism drive private cross-border aid? A qualitative study of American donors to grassroots Ingos
Given the multitude of outlets to which individuals can give their time and money, why do Americans donate to international causes? This research ties into larger discussions about the changes in the aid architecture and the role of private aid in particular. The contributions of the article are twofold. First, we seek to better understand how certain individual donors come to give to international development aid. Second, we discern altruistic m…
When the gift is halfhearted: A socio-cultural study of ambivalence in a charity sport event
Taking a culturally sensitive approach, we set out to explore the social response to, and the cultural adoption of, charity sport events in Israel, where this phenomenon is relatively new and understudied. We show that charity sport events participation is accepted with mixed feelings: participants are motivated by their novice athletic aspirations and love for bike riding, and by their emotional connection to the cause, but at the same time are …
“So, whose milk was it? … It became all of ours, together”: A relational autoethnographic study of an interactional human milk donation process through bereavement
Most of the research on human milk donations after prenatal loss has focused on donations to milk banks in which donors and recipients are anonymous to each other. In contrast, in this Israel-based study, we focus on an ongoing, direct interaction between a bereaved donor and recipients who adopted a new baby. We conducted a relational autoethnography, wherein multiple researchers present their life experiences and interpersonal contexts and mean…
Ultra-Orthodox Lesbian Women in Israel: Alternative Family Structures as a Bridge between Religious and Sexual Identities
The Jewish ultra-Orthodox community enforces strict rules concerning its members' way of life and demands that their identities be consistent with that of this conservative community. However, such congruence does not exist for ultra-Orthodox women who identify as lesbians. Drawing on social representation theory, this study examines the unique family structures that lesbian ultra-Orthodox women in Israel have adopted to accommodate their conflic…
‘Whose Milk Was It, Really? … It Was a Gift, a Savior, a Healer, and a Connector’: Reflections on a Collaborative Autoethnography of Breastmilk Donation after Stillbirth
I am a great birther. Even my first birth, which lasted 37 hours and was nothing close to easy, was, from my perspective, a great one ... My stillbirth experience, on the other hand, wasn’t so great. It was raw, bleeding, crying, begging for forgiveness; (literally) gut-wrenching, life-changing, and transformative ... A few days after giving birth to my dead baby, my milk had fully come in ... That morning, I pumped 100 ml of real, infant milk. I…
Written on milk: Exploring messages written on donated human-milk bags
Every so often, among the bags of breast milk sent for donation to milk banks, clear bags of milk are found that are hand decorated and accompanied by short texts written by donating mothers. In the bank labs, the milk is poured into pasteurisation containers, and the bags are thrown away. The milk comes to the neonatal ward packed in bar-coded bottles. Both donor and the recipient are anonymous to one another. To whom are the donating mothers wr…
As long as they remember me, I am alive”: Commemoration and memory through stickers
This study explores the phenomenon of memorial stickers commemorating victims of the October 7, 2023, massacre and subsequent Israel-Hamas war. Analyzing 600 stickers collected across Israel, we examine how these artifacts shape personal and collective memory of these tragic events. Using content analysis, visual data analysis, and ethnography of texts, we investigate the stickers' distribution, textual content, and visual elements. Three key fin…
Families of organ donors between Jews and Arabs in Israel during a military operation: Constructing meaning through participation in an epistemic Community - Media analysis of two cases
This study explores how bereaved families of organ donors become participants in an 'imagined epistemic community' of organ donor families, amidst a national conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Utilizing a media case study approach, we identified factors contributing to the creation of this bi-national community and examined what the families received in return for their part. Additionally, we explored the reasons behind the community spli…
Embodied memories - exploring memorial tattoos through the lens of terror management theory
The analysis highlights existential anxieties stemming from the massacre and ongoing conflict, which are both reflected and addressed through the tattoos' content and meaning. Memorial tattoos serve as responses to mortality salience, depicting themes that adhere to the three anxiety-buffer mechanisms proposed by the theory: reinforcement of collective worldviews; enhancement of self-esteem; and seeking continued attachment relationships. Through…
Spontaneous war weddings as a reaction to a national trauma: A terror management theory perspective
On 7 October 2023, 3,000 Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip infiltrated Israel. Over 1,300 people were killed on that day, and over 240 were abducted to Gaza. On October 8, Israel declared war on Hamas. The current study delves into the prevailing phenomenon of spontaneous war weddings held in military settings during the war. Drawing from Terror Management Theory (TMT) and utilizing an ethnographic approach, we analyze published media reports …
Being a Surrogate Partner: The Challenges of Fragile Boundaries
Surrogate partner therapy is a type of treatment in which the surrogate partner (SP) works in a triadic setting with a sex therapist and a patient. At the same time, the SP acts as an intimate surrogate partner to the patient. The SP treatment includes a range of therapeutic experiences such as relaxation, intimate communication, sensual and sexual contact, and training for the acquisition of social skills. In the current study, we ask what and h…
Understanding posthumous sperm retrieval during war through a terror management theory perspective
Performances of Hope and Despair: A Case Study of Organ Donation Between a Palestinian and Israeli Jew Amidst War
We explore the phenomenon of organ donation between rivals in time of war when a significant gift such as organ donation is given not just to a "stranger" but to a stranger who may be considered an enemy. This is a case study of a unique organ donation event that occurred in Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. It involved a Palestinian boy killed by a Jewish policeman and a Jewish man killed by Palestinian youths. Both vict…
Milky bonds: Exploring Solidarity in Human Milk Banking
This study examines how Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) biobanks foster solidarity among donors, volunteers, and communities, transforming individual prosocial behaviors into collective action. I define solidarity as mutual recognition of common goods based on shared similarities that unites individuals through intentional participation, distinguishing between rhetorical claims and practical expressions of solidarity. Thr…
I am a guest man in a world of women: The lived experiences of gay fathers utilizing human milk donations for their babies
We are all Hersh: Grief, solidarity, and identity in a football fan community
This study examines how a sports fan community reconfigured its identity in response to collective trauma. Focusing on Hapoel Jerusalem fan community, and Brigade Malcha (in Hebrew"בריגדה מלחה") the organized supporters of Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club, the research investigates the transformation triggered by the kidnapping and murder of fan Hersh Goldberg-Polin during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks. Drawing on brand community theory and cult…
Spraying the horror: Street art as social response to collective trauma
This study examines street art created in Israel following the October 7, 2023 massacre and the ensuing war through the lens of Terror Management Theory (TMT). Using digital ethnography and visual analysis, we examined 237 street artworks created across Israeli cities during the first six months following the attack. The artworks reflected heightened mortality salience and existential anxiety through recurring visual symbols, captions, and commem…
Spousal Kidney Donations in Israel: Religious and Psychoanalytic Perspectives
In the existing literature on living kidney donation, most studies address either individual altruistic donations to strangers or familial and friendship-based donations within established social ties. The phenomenon explored here diverges from both: married couples in which each spouse independently donates a kidney to an unknown recipient. This dual altruistic donation, carried out separately yet within the shared framework of marriage, illumin…
Mimetic violence and wartime organ donation between Israeli Jews and Palestinians
This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding how wartime organ donation can both interrupt and reinforce cycles of mimetic violence. Drawing on René Girard's mimetic theory, we analyze ethnographic and interview-based material collected between August 2021 and October 2022 from three cases of cross-community organ donation between Israeli Jews and Palestinians during armed conflict, examining how donor families and recipients fra…
Human milk for cancer care: Science-in-extension and gendered digital labor
This qualitative case study examines how human milk is framed, negotiated, and justified as a therapeutic resource for adults with cancer within a large digital peer-to-peer human milk-sharing community. Drawing on discourse analysis of posts and comment threads from an online group dedicated to milk donation for oncology patients, the study analyzes how participants construct therapeutic meaning in a context marked by biomedical uncertainty and …
Political science (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Law (13 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Donation (10 works) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works)