Galina Gorborukova: «I am happy I work in such a beautiful university –unique, perhaps, in all Post-Soviet space. Here, interesting people work, and smart and highly responsible students study.»

Galina Gorborukova: «I am happy I work in such a beautiful university –unique, perhaps, in all Post-Soviet space. Here, interesting people work, and smart and highly responsible students study.»

December 15, 2016

Galina Gorborukova, PhD, is an associate professor and coordinator in the Sociology Department. She joined AUCA in 2000 and began her work as part-time teacher of sociology. Now, Gorborukova works full-time. She took a moment to talk about her career at AUCA.

I was on maternity leave when I was invited to give classes for sociologists. I agreed and I have been working here since, teaching courses on sociology and simultaneously doing research.

Last year, the book “When Salary is Not Enough…” (Private Households in Central Asia - See more at: http://www.powells.com/book/when-salary-is-not-enough-9783643905253#sthash.IqmhLQ3M.dpuf) was published. It was an international project “Livelihoods Strategies of Private Households in Central Asia. A Rural-Urban Comparison in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from March 2010 – September 2013.” We also had participants from Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg, L. N. Gumilev Eurasian National University, and the Al-Farabi University.

Students from the Sociology Department actively participated in this project, they gathered qualitative and quantitative data, attended trainings organized by professors of sociology H.Schrader and E.Dietrich from Otto-von-Guericke-University. After that we translated and published this book in Russian: http://www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/3-643-90525-3.

Moreover, I was awarded with the Certificate of international trainer by MAXQDA program -  http://www.maxqda.com/learn-maxqda/maxqda-professional-trainer. This is very important to me, because I am the only certified trainer in this program in the Kyrgyz Republic and in all of Central Asia.

I was very happy to gain knowledge and experience, participating in the project «The role of historical events in people’s personal and collective well-being: A comparative research between Kyrgyzstan and Québec». This project was implemented with financial support from a USAID grant and the Central Asian Studies Institute (CASI) at the American University of Central Asia. It was a social experiment. The current research program aims to assess the psychological consequences of dramatic social change in contexts of both stability (Québec) and instability (Kyrgyzstan).  The research was conducted in two different contexts, in Québec, a province in Canada, where there is relative stability of the social context and in Kyrgyzstan, one of the newly formed independent countries that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our research and collaboration over the past seven years has taught us the significance of international collaboration.

In 2015, I spent my summer at Montreal University in Canada, where all the methodologies for this experiment were worked out. The experiment itself was carried out in spring 2016, and we soon thereafter analyzed the data. We will be publishing the results soon. My personal collaboration with the Department of Social Psychology and doctor of Psychology Roxane de la Sablonnière has lasted almost seven years and the last article “Testing the subtractive pattern of cultural identification” was published spring 2016 in the European Social Psychology Journal.

I am as happy as a king because I love my job. Sociology means a lot in my life. It is not just a living; it is my passion. I can talk about it for days on end. It hurts me when I see people in Kyrgyzstan who don’t realize the essence and significance of this science. When we conducted a survey of schoolchildren and their parents, the parents truly believed that “sociologist” was not a real profession like an economist or a lawyer. But, I can say, at this moment and in the future this is one of the most asked-for and well-paid professions.

I am happy I work in such a beautiful university –unique, perhaps, in all Post-Soviet space. Here, interesting people work, and smart and highly responsible students study.

 

 

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