Mire Koikari

Professor Mire Koikari holds the position of Graduate Chair in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Hawai‘i. Her research focuses on intersections of gender, race, nationalism, and militarism in Asia and the Pacific. She examines topics such as US military occupations of Japan and Okinawa, post-2011 disaster resilience in Japan, and transnational feminist movements. Her work critiques the securitization culture in Japan and explores how gender shapes historical and contemporary dynamics of power.

Education: PhD in Sociology (University of Wisconsin, 1997), MS in Sociology (University of Wisconsin, 1990), BA in English (Sophia University, Tokyo, 1988).

Key contributions include books analyzing Cold War encounters in Okinawa and post-disaster gendered resilience. She emphasizes critical perspectives on globalization and empire through a Hawai‘i-based lens.