Hikari Shumsky

Hikari Shumsky is originally from Tokyo, Japan and graduated from Columbia College in May 2022. She studied Human Rights with a specialization in East Asian Studies and completed a concentration at The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. During her time at Columbia, she specifically pursued studies in collective memory and historical consciousness in postwar Japan and throughout East Asia. Her senior thesis, "Emotion, Identity, & National Memory: The Problem with Japan's Historical Awareness Problem" applies a psychoaffective analysis to historical statements made in postwar Japan in order to better understand the role of emotion in Japanese historical discourse. Outside of the classroom, Hikari was a Clinic Coordinator for Students for Sanctuary, a student-run migrant-rights organization that works with asylum seekers in NYC to navigate the federal immigration system. Hikari currently resides in NYC and now works in international baseball as a Coordinator for National Team Operations at Major League Baseball. She is now enjoying travelling the world through baseball and settling into post-grad life in NYC.