Yuki Ayukawa
Global Engagement Office
Cheney International Center
1000 E University Ave
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: 1-307-766-3677
Email: global@uwyo.edu
Published March 28, 2025
By Gregory Ronco
Fourteen UW students were awarded funding during the CGS International Research Funding spring 2025 cycle. Funding is provided by the Center for Global Studies through a number of funds, including the Centennial Fund, the CGS Excellence Fund, the Ellbogen Fund, and the Harris Fund.
Yuki Ayukawa
“Issues facing children in Ghana and access to education”
This study examines barriers to education for children in rural Ghana. In sub-Saharan Africa, many children lack access to schooling. Africa’s population is rapidly growing, with a large proportion under 30. Improving access to education is therefore even more important in the future, as it will improve the quality of the workforce, spur economic development, and benefit not only Africa but also the global economy. Ghana, one of West Africa’s largest economies, prioritizes education but still faces challenges, particularly in rural areas. Therefore, the impact of improving educational opportunities in Ghana will spread to neighboring countries and across Africa, with a positive impact on international economic relations. By volunteering a school in rural area run by NGO or public school, observing the school they run, and interviewing NGO staff and teachers, I aim to gain a deeper understanding of the gap between policy goals and the reality for Ghanaian children.
“Bridging Language Gaps: Culturally Responsive Oral Language Interventions for Australian Schools”
Reading is the product of oral language comprehension and word recognition (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). While there has been a global emphasis on systematic and explicit word recognition instruction, the implementation of systematic and explicit oral language instruction remains limited (Snow & Uccelli, 2009). Both components are essential for reading comprehension, particularly for students with reading difficulties. This gap in oral language instruction has contributed to significant deficits in reading comprehension worldwide, including Australia, where approximately 50% of students read below grade level (PISA, 2022). New South Wales has recently enacted legislation requiring oral language assessment and intervention; however, the tools available to educators are limited and not culturally and linguistically sensitive to the Australian population. This project continues a research-to-practice partnership between Dr. Douglas Petersen from the University of Wyoming and Kathryn Thorburn from the Language and Learning organization in New South Wales. This project will include creating focus groups of educators to help identify the modifications needed to create appropriate assessment and intervention materials.
“China in the tianguis markets of Mexico”
The Chinese government is seeking to increase its power in Latin America, most obviously through infrastructure projects and diplomatic relationships, including public diplomacy. In this context, Mexico has notably refused China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but China continues to exercise soft power towards Mexico. The proposed project is a case study of China-Mexico relations in traditional open-air markets in Mexico (tianguis), which sell prepared food, produce, and hand-made and imported goods. Currently, imported goods sold in tianguis are often from China, which suggests a co-presence of local traditions and novel transformations in social relations that produce the markets. I will conduct interviews with tianguis merchants in rural Pabellon de Arteaga and its state’s capital, Aguascalientes, and will interpret the landscapes of the markets. In the context of geopolitical tensions in the hemisphere, this research promises a bottom-up perspective on lived experiences of China’s changing role in Latin America.
“Sonic Palimpsests: Language, Music, and National Identity in Joyce’s Finnegans Wake”
This research examines the intersection of language, cultural identity, and musicality in Irish literature through James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. Joyce’s text, rich in melodic qualities and traditional Irish songs, serves as a critical reflection of national identity. Music in Finnegans Wake functions as both narrative and structural force, drawing from Irish oral storytelling traditions and musical improvisation. Archival research at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin and fieldwork in Gaeltacht regions will explore linguistic and musical influences on Joyce’s work. The project also includes an analysis of traditional and contemporary Irish music and archival study at the British Library to contextualize Joyce’s modernist innovations. Integrating literary analysis with ethnomusicology and media studies, this study highlights how national identity is expressed through literature and music, contributing a novel interdisciplinary perspective to Joyce scholarship and the broader field of postcolonial literary studies.
“In the Shadow of Peace: Structural Violence and Queer (In)Visibility in Northern Ireland”
While transitional justice, a framework used in international peacebuilding, has been utilized to help conflicted societies move towards peace, it frequently prioritizes addressing physical violence over structural forms of violence, (e.g. prejudice, inequity, and marginalization), rendering its victims invisible. Although the transitional process that marked the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland has been praised for its ‘bottom-up’ approach to peacebuilding, some of the most marginalized members of Northern Irish society remain vulnerable to structural violence. Recognizing that invisibility increases vulnerability, by utilizing qualitative research methods, including semi-structured interviews and focus groups, this study intends to examine whether transitional justice can achieve its stated goals without focusing on structural violence as it relates to queer identities. Accordingly, this thesis argues for a queer-inclusive approach to transitional justice that can build lasting and sustainable peace by addressing ongoing violence experienced by some of the most marginalized identities in conflict.
“Geovisualizing coastline changes within a digital twin environment in Anloga, Ghana”
Ghana’s 600 km coastline is disappearing—eroded by rising sea levels, changing tides and rapid climate changes. In Anloga, coastal erosion goes beyond an environmental problem; it is a threat to livelihoods, infrastructure, and ancestral heritage. While anthropogenic activities like sand mining, and urbanization have long been studied, the role of climate change in accelerating coastal erosion and coastline retreat remains underexplored. This study brings the shorelines to life through digital twin technology, creating a data-driven model that simulates and geovisualizes coastline changes, while using Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellite imagery, remote sensing techniques such as change detection analysis to help quantify erosion patterns. The study integrates indigenous knowledge through participatory mapping, questionnaires, and photovoice to capture aspects that may be missed by science. By merging cutting-edge technology and scientific knowledge with indigenous knowledge and experience, this research empowers coastal communities with actionable insights to adapt and protect their disappearing land.
“Effects of protection gradients on large herbivore densities”
This research examines how varying human impacts influence ecological networks, focusing on large herbivore populations and their role in shaping large carnivore dynamics and broader ecosystem processes. It investigates the alarming decline of large herbivores and will quantify the effects of protection gradients between strictly protected and unprotected areas on herbivore dynamics across three key ecosystems in Zambia: Kafue (76,421 km²), Luangwa (22,000 km²), and Liuwa (3,660 km²). The study will use distance sampling and Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate herbivore densities and group sizes, providing insights for addressing critical conservation challenges in Zambia’s ecosystems, which face intense and growing human pressure. Understanding the effects of protection gradients, and human impacts on herbivore populations will help inform better conservation strategies. The findings will contribute to improving wildlife management practices ensuring the sustainability of wildlife populations, benefiting both biodiversity and local communities dependent on wildlife for ecotourism and livelihoods.
“Assessing niche partitioning of squirrels and their potential as indicators of rainforest condition in Malaysian Borneo”
Squirrels are everywhere, from backyards to rainforests, yet their role in maintaining healthy ecosystems is often underestimated. Studying squirrels can offer valuable insights into environmental issues, as they are sensitive to habitat changes and contribute to ecosystems through seed dispersal. This project will focus on the squirrels of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, at Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), an area with limited research on its squirrel species. DGFC is in one of the region’s last rainforest fragments, as most have been converted to oil palm plantations. We will explore two main questions: How do different squirrel species share habitats, and can any species serve as indicators of rainforest health? This study will expand our understanding of the ecology of the ~15 squirrel species at DGFC and provide insights into the health of this threatened ecosystem. Identifying indicator species can aid conservation efforts to preserve Borneo’s wildlife, including orangutans and pangolins.
“Political Party Social Media Utilization during the 2024 Taiwanese Election”
In our modern world social media has become incredibly important for politics and political parties from all across the world have utilized social media platforms to promote agendas and construct identities. One country in which social media is widely used in politics is Taiwan. Approximately 90% of Taiwanese citizens are active on multiple social media platforms. (Hung, 2024) The most popular platforms are Line, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok. (Lim, 2024) These social media platforms play a major role in Taiwanese society and are a core component in Taiwanese politics. The central issue in Taiwanese politics is identity and what it means to be Taiwanese. In Taiwan, there are two central narratives that are displayed regarding identity. The first narrative is that being Taiwanese is not an identity and that all Taiwanese are Chinese and that it is Taiwan’s duty to eventually reunite with the mainland. This is the narrative behind the Kuomintang (KMT) party which is a conservative Chinese Nationalist Party. The other narrative is that Taiwan is its own distinct nation and that the Taiwanese people are no longer Chinese and are instead Taiwanese. This narrative has been embraced by the majority of the population and has been adopted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The 2024 election also saw The People’s Party (TPP) adopt a neutral stance on identity. All three of the major parties utilized various social media platforms to promote their agendas. Most of the existing literature analyzes the statistics of social media usage, Chinese disinformation during the campaign cycle and the results of the 2024 election. Studying social media in the Taiwanese 2024 Election will be important for understanding how Taiwanese meanings behind identities have been constructed on social media, the current political discourse of the three Taiwanese political parties, the methods, and platforms each party used to promote themselves during the election cycle, and how impactful social media is to electoral politics by using the Taiwanese 2024 election as a case study.
“Assimilation, Incarceration, and Identity: Stories of Japanese Immigrants in the Americas”
In the late 1800s, emigrants from Japan settled in the US and Peru, seeking a better life. Numerous books exist recounting the history and narratives of Japanese Americans, and their unjust incarceration during WWII; but little has been written about the parallel and interconnected experiences of Japanese Peruvians. As a PhD student in Public Humanities, a published writer, and a Spanish-speaking descendant of Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII, I will go to Lima, Peru in 2025 to conduct preliminary research for my dissertation, a multi-genre, multi-modal creative project that will focus on the parallel and interconnected histories and cultural experiences of Japanese Peruvians and Japanese Americans. My goals are to establish organization contacts within the Japanese Peruvian community in Lima, and conduct a needs and resources assessment to guide my dissertation investigations of Japanese Peruvian history. These findings and organization contacts will also set me up for an internship in Peru with a humanities-based organization.
“Using modern genetic tools to explore the impact of overfishing, prey depletion and habitat disturbances on the long-term survival of Nile perch species in East Africa”
This project will use modern genetic tools to explore the combined impact of over-exploitation, diminishing prey resources, and habitat disturbances on the long-term survival of Nile perch species (Lates) in East Africa. This is crucial because fishes are a source of income and inexpensive high-quality animal protein, yet the long-term survival of Lates species, the most economically valuable species in this region, is being threatened. My NSF-funded research focuses on four Lates species endemic to Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. My aim is to include in my dissertation work two under-studied Lates species experiencing similar challenges in Lakes Albert and Turkana in Uganda and Kenya respectively. I will travel to Lake Tanganyika this summer for fieldwork, supported by the NSF grant. I plan to use the CGS grant to travel to Uganda, process research permit, and purchase sampling materials for the unfunded portion of my proposed dissertation.
“Sub-elite women, agency, and literacy in 14th-Century England”
My thesis discusses the relationship between female agency, literacy, and chivalric romances in the Late Middle Ages, specifically the 14th century. It would be difficult to discuss literature in the Middle Ages without mentioning the stories of chivalric or Arthurian romance, where female characters often exert more power over their husbands or realms than women in real life possessed. By using these stories as a lens to examine gender relationships of the sub-elite, we can expand into areas where women could find potential agency such as guild membership, education, and dowery management. I argue that by encountering the romances, sub-elite women were given powerful role models that inspired them to find ways to create better conditions in their everyday life.
“Creating Jobs and Stopping Tides: How Youth Employment Programs Bolster National Security”
Following a large-scale terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in May, 2017, Manchester implemented reforms to its existing counter-terrorism policies with a specific focus on identification and deradicalization. These policies recognized the importance of youth opportunity and employment in stabilizing national security. The duration and methods of conducting research have not changed. This research will be undertaken for two months in the summer, using semi-structured interviews to examine how youth opportunity, employment, and community-building are all powerful tools of stopping radicalization by extremist groups. My research will see if the NGOs and CSOs partnering with the government have noticed an increased ability to provide services, including vocational and technical training which is vital to middle-class creation. Or is bureaucracy continuing to stand in the way of career development for young people thus pushing them closer to radicalization?
“Implementing MTSS for Language in Australia”
This project seeks to advance language and literacy outcomes for school-age children through collaborative research and professional development initiatives in Australia. In partnership with Shaun Ziegenfusz (DLD Project) and Lauren Haskins (Let's Grow Together), two training events will be conducted for educators and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Melbourne. Dr. Douglas Petersen (UW), Dr. Trina Spencer (University of Kansas), and I will conduct these trainings that will facilitate a large-scale randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of language interventions delivered by SLPs and teachers. Additionally, we will collaborate with Australian Catholic University to design a study focusing on the reliability and validity of oral language and reading comprehension assessments. This initiative will foster community-based research and contribute to evidence-based educational practices. The outcomes will inform intervention strategies that enhance language comprehension, literacy, and academic success for school-age students, with implications for both Australian and international educational contexts.
Global Engagement Office
Cheney International Center
1000 E University Ave
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: 1-307-766-3677
Email: global@uwyo.edu