Akiko Yasuike, Ph.D.

About

Dr. Akiko Yasuike is a Professor of Sociology and is affiliated with the Global Studies Program. She regularly teaches courses on families, immigration, global issues, and applied sociology. The required internship component of the applied sociology course enables students to investigate potential career pathways, cultivate the skills essential for their chosen professions, and gain invaluable work experience. Every three years, Dr. Yasuike and Dr. Medders, in the Department of Communication, lead a Japan travel seminar, during which students are introduced to Japanese society, popular culture, and media over the course of two-weeks in Japan. As an immigrant who was educated in both Japan and the United States, she incorporates global and cross-cultural perspectives into all of her courses. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Diversity Professor of the Year Award.

Her primary research interest is the integration of expatriate and immigrant groups into a global city, Los Angeles, and American society. Her first research project examined the reconstruction of gender relations among Japanese couples residing in Southern California. Subsequently, she shifted her focus to a group of immigrants who were marginalized due to a lack of immigration documentation but who were nevertheless well versed in the language, values, and beliefs of American society, due to their upbringing in the United States. Four first-generation college students were recruited to join the research team for this second project. She recently launched a new project examining the return migration of Japanese immigrants in Southern California. Over the past 18 years, she has mentored 15 undergraduate students on their research projects through the Pearson Scholars Summer Program for Leadership and Engagement in a Global Society, the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, and the Culver Behavioral Science Research Fellowship. Those who conducted their research projects in their junior year have presented their findings at Pacific Sociological Association meetings or Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research.        

Education

Ph.D. in Sociology & Graduate Certificate in Gender Studies from University of Southern California, 2005 M.A. in Sociology from California State University, Northridge, 1995 B.A. in General Studies from Gonzaga University, 1993 B.A. in English from Kwansai Gakuin University, 1988

Expertise

Immigration, Gender, Families, Ethnic identities, Asian Americans, Globalization, and Japanese Society

Publications

2019              "Stigma Management and Resistance among High-Achieving Undocumented Students' in Sociological Inquiry,                              89(2), 191-213.

2019              "Academic Success of Undocumented Latino Students: School Programs, Non-Profit Organizations, and Social                              Capital" in Journal of Latinos  and Education 18(1), 42-52.

2011              “The Impact of Japanese Corporate Transnationalism on Men’s Involvement in Family Life and Relationships” in                            Journal of Family Issues, 32 (12),  1700-1725.

2011               “Economic Opportunities and the Division of Labor among Japanese Couples in Southern California” in                                        Sociological Inquiry, 81(3), 353-376.

2017               A book review, Self-Harm and Eating Disorder in Japan: Navigating Contradictions Narrative and Visual Culture                          by Gitte Marianne Hansen. Pacific Affairs. 91(2), 386-388.

2000               A book review, Bicycle Citizen: the Political World of the Japanese Housewives by Robin M.                                                        LeBlanc. Contemporary Sociology. 29(5).