Eunseon Kim

Eunseon Kim is a Lecturer and Program Convenor for the Korean Language Program at the School of Culture, History and Language within the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. With a PhD in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia, she specializes in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and Korean studies.

• Education: PhD in Asian Studies (University of British Columbia)

Her research examines the ideological and semiotic dimensions of Korean honorifics, focusing on how language ideologies shape public understanding, educational practices, and collective identities. She investigates metapragmatic discourse and historical shifts in linguistic etiquette norms. Recent work includes a book project analyzing the socio-semiotic history of Korean honorifics in relation to ethno-national modernity.

The five publications listed across 2018–2025 reveal consistent engagement with linguistic politeness, honorification systems, and ideological debates about Korean language use. Key research themes include colonialist representations of Korean under Japanese Rule, instrumentalism vs. primordialism in language theory, and the role of honorifics as markers of social rank. These works intersect with broader fields of sociolinguistics, cultural anthropology, and historical semiotics.

At ANU, Kim teaches both language and content-based courses, using Korean as a medium to explore socio-cultural dimensions of communication, history, and identity. She has supervised research students and led the project "A Naturalised History of Polite Language: The Colonialist Representations of Korean under Japanese Rule" (2022–2024).