Dr. Omer Hacker was awarded a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship to pursue his research project titled “Incorporating the Spirit: Tech Companies Sovereignty and the Inclusion of Religion.” In the high-tech industry, where work is expected to be a realm for self-realization and employees are encouraged to “bring their whole self” to the workplace, the research asks - what is the place of religion in the new relationship? Which religious activities are legitimized or even supported by the workplace? Which activities are pushed out and why? The research will be based on fieldwork in the New York City tech industry.

This project is a development of Omer’s doctoral research, which focused on the concept of time in the global high-tech industry, and in particular how changes in working hours affect the time systems of religious tech workers. The PhD research was based on ethnography in a global high-tech corporation, and interviews with observant Jewish and Muslim tech workers in Toronto and Tel Aviv.

Omer’s publications include:

Hacker, Omer. “Time With No Time: Coordinating the Tech Workplace.” Current Anthropology (Forthcoming).

Chen, Lior, Omer Hacker, and Nurit Stadler. Sacred Places in the Holy Land – An Ethnographic Perspective. Ra’anana: The Open University of Israel.