Giovanna (Odessa Gonzalez) Gonzalez Benson
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Dr. Odessa Gonzalez Benson is Assistant Professor at the U-M School of Social Work and is with the U-M Detroit School of Urban Studies Faculty Cluster. Her areas of research are: refugee resettlement, refugee/migrant-led organizations, participatory approaches to urban governance and social services with refugees, state-civil society relations, critical policy studies. Dr. Gonzalez Benson pursues interdisciplinary work integrating social welfare and community perspectives with refugee studies and urban studies, particularly within the context of 'new refugee destinations' such as Michigan and the broader midwest. Currently, her work is place-based research on immigrant-run grassroots organizations in Grand Rapids and Detroit, examining institutional links, functions and use of resources and urban space. Past research examined policy-driven vis-a-vis refugee-driven resettlement, based on nationwide data on refugee-run organizations in 30 U.S. states. She draws upon years of engagement with refugee communities, diverse education and work experiences and her personal path as a 1.5-generation immigrant to inform and motivate her research. She has a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Washington in Seattle, MSW from Arizona State University, and BA in Communications from the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
Research Interests/Focus
refugee resettlement, refugee/migrant-led organizations, participatory approaches to urban governance and social services with refugees, state-civil society relations, critical policy studies
Contact Information
| Phone | Room | Address | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (734) 763-6250 | odessagb@umich.edu | 3828 SSWB | University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 |
Education
| Year | Degree | School | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | PhD | Social Welfare | University of Washington |
| 2010 | MSW | Community Organization | Arizona State University, Phoenix |
| 2009 | AS | Mental Health Services | Community College of the US Air Force |
| 1999 | BA | University of the Philippines |
Websites
| Just Futures, An action research collective on displacement, migration and urban studies |
Gonzalez Benson, O. (in press). Embeddedness with community: Reflections on participatory mapping with refugees. Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice.
Gonzalez Benson, O. (in press). On becoming ‘essential’: Coronavirus lessons of ontology (from migrant farmworkers and us who consume the fruits of her labor). Qualitative Social Work.
Gonzalez Benson, O. & Pimentel Walker, A. (in press). In search of participation: Refugee-run organizations in multi-scalar governance in US resettlement policy. Urban Affairs.
Gonzalez Benson, O., Yoshihama, M., Ellis, J., Pimentel Walker, A., Usui, M. & Chang, S. (in press). Refugee education and hope: Participatory Action Research with Congolese refugee youth. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Gonzalez Benson, O. (in press). Refugee resettlement patterns in the United States: Examining labor market conditions and immigration policies in cities of primary placement and secondary internal migration. Journal of International Migration and Integration.
Cross, F. & Gonzalez Benson, O. (in press). The Coronavirus pandemic and immigrant communities: A crisis that demands more of the social work profession. Affilia.
Wiley, C., Jen, S., Storer, H. & Gonzalez Benson, O. (in press). Discursive decisions: Signposts to guide the use of critical discourse analysis in social work. Qualitative Social Work.
Gonzalez Benson, O.& Yoshihama, M. (2019). Post-resettlement refugee collectives in the United States: Processes of emergence and development. Sharing Society Project (Ed.), Sharing Society International Conference 2019 Proceedings. Bilbao, Basque Country, (Spain): Sharing Society Project-The Impact of Collaborative Collective Actions in the Transformation of Contemporary Societies, University of the Basque Country.