Christina Higgins
Christina Higgins
Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
557 Moore Hall
808.956.2785
cmhiggin@hawaii.edu
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~
Dr. Higgins is a sociolinguist who is interested in the politics of language, multilingual practices, globalization, and identity. She utilizes discourse analytic, ethnographic, and qualitative approaches to study various facets of the global spread of English and multilingual identities. Geographically, she has focused her research mainly in two contexts: 1) East Africa, where she has studied codeswitching in the workplace, the intersection of popular culture and multilingualism, and HIV/AIDS education sponsored by non-governmental organizations; and 2) Hawai‘i, where she has worked to promote critical language awareness through various collaborative projects, including two film projects with high school students and a permanent museum exhibit on Hawai‘i Creole.
Areas of expertise:
- sociolinguistics
- ethnographic discourse analysis
- hybridity
- language and identity
- language and globalization
- arts-based approaches to critical language awareness
