Viveka Ichikawa

Viveka Ichikawa (she/her) initially worked in anti-poverty social work in Japan before coming to Toronto as a racialized migrant settler. Her scholarship is deeply informed and inspired by anti-oppressive decolonial, anti-racist, and critical feminist thinkers, activists, writers, and scholars.

As a practitioner, she has been working closely with racialized and LGBTQ+ migrant communities, including refugee claimants. Her pedagogy centres people’s lived experiences, knowledge, and stories, bridging critical theories with everyday social work praxis across micro and macro levels.

Viveka has been leading and co-leading local and global anti-oppressive and trauma-informed community-based research initiatives. These include a national survey of people with mixed racial and multiple ethnic backgrounds in Japan and community-based participatory research with LGBTQ+ refugee claimants and the organizations and professionals working alongside them in Ontario.

She is a Global Representative of the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association (2026–2028) and is passionate about strengthening global collaboration and increasing representation from the Global South and formerly colonized parts of the world.

Outside of her professional work, she enjoys swimming, art, and spending time with her family, chosen family, and friends—including her fluffy dog-son.