Jill Koyama

Koyama’s scholarship sits across several strands of inquiry: the productive social assemblage of policy; the controversies of globalizing educational policy; and the politics of migrant education. In this research, she challenges notions of global citizenship and interrogates normative enactments of civic engagement, leadership and education.

Professor Koyama began her research journey working as a botanist with tribal communities in the pacific northwest which instilled in her an interest for understanding communities and networks. A mentor in graduate school introduced her to anthropology and education, and Koyama has since engaged with many communities over the span of her career, including refugees, migrant workers, border crossers and tribal nations. Koyama has utilized sociocultural anthropology and sociolinguistics to understand difference and sharedness within communities. 

Koyama’s research has been particularly impressed by refugees’ abilities and creativity to construct resource rich networks, despite being financially, socially, and legally restrained. Her research seeks to better understand how they developed these networks, and also bring light to all the things that refugees can do, which counters the socially constructed narrative that often focuses on what refugees cannot do. 

Current Project

• At ASU, Koyama is working on a new project that extends her previous work: She is collaborating with MLFTC and Education for Humanity colleagues, as well as the Refugee Educator Academy at Childhood Education International, to create both curricular material/programs for teachers, who are displaced, and also for educators working with refugees. A 9 credit specialization in refugee education will be launched in 2024 and also in the newly developed public-facing professional learning space.