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Misa Kayama

Associate Professor of Social Work

Misa Kayama

Dr. Kayama's research focuses on the cultural shaping of children's experience of stigmatization due to disability and other intersectional issues such as race and immigration status, through cross-cultural, ethnographic approaches, including cultural analyses of policies.

Research Interests

Dr. Kayama's recent research focuses on the voices of children and their parents with the broad aim of understanding their experiences of stigmatization due to disability, racism, and xenophobia. Dr. Kayama has two lines of research:

  1. U.S. and East Asian children’s experiences of disability and peer stigmatization at school, including bullying and teasing, and
  2. Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia experienced by new immigrant families prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Kayama examines the social construction of the experiences of disability and race in the U.S. and internationally through qualitative (e.g., ethnographic) approaches and mixed methods research, and cultural analyses of national/federal policies. This research is guided by critical disability and race theories, as well as developmental, sociocultural, and other ecological perspectives.

Cross-cultural analysis of children’s and their families’ experiences facilitates an international dialogue around the widespread issues of the stigmatization of children due to disabilities, racism, and xenophobia through “creative understanding” as described by Mikhail Bakhtin. Perspectives of individuals from other cultural groups allow us to observe our own culture from a new perspective, identify and gain deeper understandings of taken-for-granted beliefs and practices, and suggest alternative intervention programs and policies.

Dr. Kayama's research has been funded internally and externally, including by the Spencer Foundation and the Abe Fellowship (Social Science Research Council). The findings have been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and two academic books with Oxford University Press, most recently Disability, stigmatization, and children’s developing selves: Insights from educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.

Publications

Cover of Disability, Stigmatization, and Children's Developing Selves: Insights from educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.

Disability, Stigmatization, and Children's Developing Selves: Insights from Educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.

The following in an abstract provided by Oxford University Press:

This book describes a program of research spanning a decade that seeks to understand disabilities in their developmental and cultural contexts. The authors are especially interested in understanding adults’ socialization practices that promise to reduce stigmatization in the next generation. Guided by developmental cultural psychology, including the concept of “universalism without uniformity,” the authors focus on the understandings and responses to disability and associated stigmatization of elementary-school educators practicing in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. Educators from all four cultural groups expressed strikingly similar concerns about the impact of stigmatization on the emerging cultural self, both of children with disabilities and their typically developing peers. Educators also described culturally nuanced socialization goals and practices pertaining to inclusive education. In Japan, for instance, educators emphasized the importance of peer group belonging and strategies to support the participation of children with disabilities. In the U.S., educators placed relatively more emphasis on individual development and discussed strategies for the equitable treatment of children with disabilities. Educators in South Korea and Taiwan emphasized the cultivation of compassion in typically developing children. The understanding gained through examination of how diverse individuals address common challenges using cultural resources available in their everyday lives provides important lessons for strengthening theory, policy, and programs.

Read the full abstract here. 

Dr. Kayama has also published: 

  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2014). Disability, Culture and Development: A case study of Japanese children at school. New York: Oxford University Press. Journal articles Kayama, M., & Haight, W. (2022 online). Anti-Asian hatred and Japanese parents’ support of their children’s acculturation to the U.S.
  • Social Work, 67(4), 341-350. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac033 Kayama, M., & Haight, W. (2022 online) Japanese parents’ experiences supporting their school-aged children’s acculturation to the U.S. Qualitative Social Work. Published online first, available at https://doi.org/10.1177%2F14733250221114395
  • Nakatsubo, F., Ueda, H., & Kayama, M. (2022/2021 online). Why don’t Japanese early childhood educators intervene in children’s physical fights? Some characteristics of the Mimamoru approach. Early Childhood Education Journal, 50, 627-637.
  • Kayama, M., & Yamakawa, N. (2020). Acculturation and a sense of belonging of children in U.S. schools and communities: The case of Japanese families. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105612
  • Kayama, M., & Yamakawa, N. (2020). Acculturation, cultural self, and identity of Japanese children in U.S. schools: Insights from Japanese temporary resident and immigrant parents. Identity, 20(3), 188-207.
  • Kayama, M., Johnstone, C., & Limaye, S. (2021/2019 Online). The Experiences of Disability in Sociocultural Contexts of India: Stigmatization and Resilience. International Social Work, 64(4), 596-610.
  • Johnstone, C., Kayama, M., & Limaye, S. (2019). Inclusion or assimilation? Program development in disability-focused organizations in India. Disability and Society, 34(10), 1595-1612.
  • Kayama, M., Johnstone, C., & Limaye, S. (2019). Adjusting the “self” in social interaction: Disability and stigmatization in India, Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 463-474.
  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2018). Balancing the stigmatization risks of disability labels against the benefits of special education: Japanese parents’ perceptions. Children and Youth Services Review, 89, 43-53.
  • Kayama, M. (2017). Development of children’s understandings of physical disabilities and stigmatization in a Japanese cultural context: Reflections of children in second through sixth grades. Children and Youth Services Review, 83, 190-200.
  • Kayama, M., Haight, W., Ku, M.L., Cho, M.H., & Lee, H.Y. (2017). East Asian and US educators’ reflections on how stigmatization affects their relationships with parents whose children have disabilities: Challenges and solutions. Children and Youth Services Review, 73, 128-144.
  • Kayama, M., Haight, W., Ku, M.L., Cho, M.H., & Lee, H.Y. (2016). Perspectives of elementary school educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US on disability, Stigmatization and children’s developing self Part 2: Solutions. Children and Youth Services Review, 70, 403-418.
  • Haight, W., Kayama, M., Ku, M.L., Cho, M.H., & Lee, H.Y. (2016). Perspectives of elementary school educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US on disability, Stigmatization and children’s developing self Part 1: Defining the problem in cultural context. Children and Youth Services Review, 70, 214-228.
  • Haight, W., Kayama, M., Gibson, P.A. (2016). Out-of-school suspensions of Black youth: Culture, ability/disability, gender, and perspective, Social Work, 61(3), 234-243.
  • Kayama, M., Haight, W., Kincaid, T., & Evans, K. (2015). Local implementation of disability policies for “high-incidence” disabilities at public schools in Japan and the U.S., Children and Youth Services Review, 52, 34-44.
  • Kayama, M., Haight, W., Gibson, P.A., & Wilson, R. (2015). Use of criminal justice language in personal narratives of out-of-school suspensions: Black students, their caregivers, and educators. Children and Youth Services Review, 51, 26-35.
  • Gibson, P.A, Wilson, R, Haight, W., Kayama, M., & Marshall, J.M. (2014). The role of race in the out-of-school suspensions of Black students: The perspectives of students with suspensions, their parents and educators. Children and Youth Services Review, 47(3), 274-282.
  • Haight, W., Gibson, P.A., Kayama, M., Marshall, J. M., & Wilson, R. (2014). An ecological- systems inquiry into racial disproportionalities in out-of-school suspensions from youth, caregiver and educator perspectives. Children and Youth Services Review, 46, 128-138.
  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2014). Disability and stigma: How Japanese educators help parents accept their children’s differences. Social Work. 59(1), 24-33. Haight, W., Kayama, M., & Korang-Okrah, R. (2014). Ethnography in social work practice and policy. Qualitative Social Work, 13(1), 127-143.
  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2013). The experiences of Japanese elementary-school children living with “developmental disabilities”: Navigating peer relationships. Qualitative Social Work. 12(5), 555-571.
  • Haight, W., Kayama, M., Kincaid, T. Evans, K., & Kim, N. (2013). The elementary-school functioning of children with maltreatment histories and mild cognitive or behavioral disabilities: A mixed methods inquiry. Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 420-428.
  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2012). Cultural sensitivity in the delivery of disability services to children: A case study of Japanese education and socialization. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 266-275.
  • Carter-Black, J.D., & Kayama, M. (2011). Jim Crow’s daughters: Different social class- Different experience with racism. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 26(2), 169-181.
  • Kayama, M. (2010). Parental experiences of children’s disabilities and special education in the U.S. and Japan: Implications for school social work. Social Work, 55(2), 117-125

Courses Taught

  • SW 711 Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research
  • SW 703 Topics with At-risk Populations
  • SW 620 Practice with Organizations and Communities
  • SW 615 Social Work Practice with Families and Groups
  • SW 601 Human Behaviors and the Social Environment
  • SW 437 Social Work Practice III: Groups
  • SW 330 Human Diversity and Social Work Practice

Education

Ph.D. Social Work, University of Illinois-Urbana Campus (2011)