{"id":6314,"date":"2014-09-23T14:15:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T14:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=6314"},"modified":"2023-07-13T09:40:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:40:37","slug":"mira-shimabukuro","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/ias\/faculty-and-staff\/mira-shimabukuro","title":{"rendered":"Mira Shimabukuro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teaching Professor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Mira<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

B.A., Liberal Studies, Evergreen State College
MFA, Creative Writing, 56勛圖厙 Seattle
Ph.D., Composition and Rhetoric, University of Wisconsin Madison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office: 56勛圖厙1-337
Phone: 425-352-5067
Email: mshima2@uw.edu<\/a>
Mailing Box: 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No matter the class, my teaching always requires an on-going exploration of what is<\/em> in order to contemplate what might be<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, I try to design classes that do the following: 1) provide multicultural, historic perspective; 2) create space in the classroom for students to bring and consider their diverse and dynamic identities; 3) utilize a variety of classroom activities to engage multiple learning styles; 4) explore contemporary multicultural situations relative to the specific course; and 5) stimulate critical thinking regarding the future and solutions to conflicts covered in the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work I ask students to do often consists of both informal and formal types of writing, even in courses that are not explicitly about writing. Students in all of my classes can expect a significant amount of both small group and full class discussion, as I pay specific attention on ensuring that all voices are heard in the classroom. And because all texts require shifts in styles of reading, I devote some attention to metacognitive discussions of the ways we might read, especially as we shift across genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter what my plans are though, my approach to teaching always shifts depending upon the people, place and moment. I try hard to lean in <\/em>to the student\/s and moment in front of me. Whether I am working with factory workers trying to translate twenty years of experience into a one-page resume, or with new college students trying to hone ever-evolving ideas into an essay that stands still, or recent immigrants trying to express anger over proposed English-only laws, the nuances of my teaching are teased out differently depending upon the exact circumstances of a given class or a given individual student. And there\u2019s always the possibility that events taking place outside of the classroom will change what I do. This is the exciting part about teaching and why I continue to do it: one never knows what exactly will happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent Courses Taught<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BWRIT 132-133 Composition Stretch Sequence
BWRIT 134\/BCORE 107 Race, Language and Power
BIS 238 Language, Identity, Culture, Power
BISAES Historical Memory and Social Conflict (Remembering \u201cInternment\u201d and Nikkei Dissent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research and Creative Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Broadly speaking, my scholarship focuses on the ways U.S.-based communities of color have used written language to respond to and\/or contend with the experiences of racialized oppression, both in private and in public. This has meant I regularly engage\u2014through research and study\u2014with the politics of language and identity; the embodied experience of writing as a site and practice of struggle; and the (multi)cultural rhetorics of social justice work and activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of my recent publications and talks have focused on Japanese American rhetorics of redress in response to the community\u2019s World War II experience of mass incarceration. Such scholarship has meant an intentional interdisciplinary approach as well as a great deal of attention to research methodology and the politics of community knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My more current research and creative practice interests center on several different threads that sometimes inform each other and sometimes diverge: 1) a socially-engaged, creative practice of poetry writing; 2) poetic and\/or graphic memoirs by women of color; 3) 19th-20th century racializations of \u201cAsian Americans\u201d; 4) decolonizing history and cultures of Hawai\u2019i; 5) decolonizing history and cultures of Okinawa\/Uchina\/Ryukyu Islands; and 6) Shimanchu\/Okinawan diaspora identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Presentations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n