NORIKO ISHIYAMA
Ms. Ishiyama earned her B.A. and M.A. in American Studies from Japan Women's University Tokyo. She is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Geography at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In the summers of 1997 and 1998, Ms. Ishiyama completed internships with the Institute. She was based in the Denver office. Her research focused on issues of environmental justice in Indian Country. During her time at the Institute she was able to clarify within her project, the historical, social, and political issues related to environmental justice that are experienced by Indian tribes struggling to oppose or undertake various environmental and development projects. During her internship, she narrowed her research into a case study that is the subject of her current dissertation research.
Since 1997, Ms. Ishiyama has been studying at Rutgers University. She has received scholarships and research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Matsushita International Foundation, Association of American University Women, and the National Science Foundation Her dissertation research focuses on the controversy over the decision of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians in Utah to host an interim storage facility for high-level radioactive waste. Having completed extensive fieldwork and archival research, she analyzes this case from critical perspectives of environmental justice and political ecology.
Ms. Ishiyama has also worked with Amnesty International-Japan. Her work there focused on women's human rights projects. She has worked with an NGO in Chiang Mai, Thailand that dealt with environmental problems threatening hill tribes in the region. She undertakes collaborative writing projects with Institute researchers and returns periodically to work with current interns.