Dr. Kimura is an Assistant Professor of Applied Communication & Critical Race & Ethnic Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary & Communication Studies at Miami University. His research and teaching interests are interdisciplinary and intersect with Intercultural and International Studies, Politics of Identity, Race, Gender and Sexuality, Digital Media, Performance, Japanese Popular Culture, and Transnationalism. He received his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of New Mexico, M.A. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, and B.A. in English Language and Literature from Waseda University.
His dissertation titled, (Un)matched: Racialized Narratives of U.S.-Based Japanese Men, Masculinity, and Heterosexuality in Online Dating Apps documents voices and narratives of U.S.-based Japanese men and examines how they engage with the U.S. hegemonic notions of racialized masculinity and heterosexuality in the online dating space.
Dr. Kimura teaches undergraduate courses in Communication with specific focuses on issues of diversity and how social institutions and structures of power affect our positionalities within the spectrum of privilege and marginalization.
His single-authored and co-authored work can be found in the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, Journal of Hate Studies, Journal of Japanese Studies, and QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. His recent work will appear for publication in the Journal of Japanese Studies and in edited books: The Oxford Handbook of Media and Social Justice (Oxford University Press), Transnationalizing Critical Intercultural Communication: Legacy, Future, and Relevance (Peter Lang), and Blurring Boundaries and Binaries: Belonging, Gender, & Mixed Heritages in Higher Education in the United States (Information Age Publishing).
As a scholar, Dr. Kimura’s research interests are interdisciplinary and intersect with Critical and Cultural Studies, Critical Race/Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Representation and Performance, Asian/American Studies, Japanese Cultural Studies, and Globalization and Transnationalism.
As a teacher, Dr. Kimura values critical thinking and dialogue for students to apply their knowledge in real-world situations which fosters an in-depth understanding of the “self” and relationally between self, others, and society. He strives for academic mentoring through cultivating meaningful relationships with students.
