Dr. Christina Higgins is Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is a sociolinguist who studies multilingualism from a discursive perspective, drawing on social constructionist, semiotic, critical, and postmodern frameworks. She strives to be a sociolinguist for the "real world" and to engage in scholarship that will effect positive change in society. To that end, she has pursued public sociolinguistics, an approach to language in society that centers public-facing research and outreach, and which prioritizes making knowledge about language accessible to all. Much of Dr. Higgins's research has been in the post-colonial contexts of Tanzania and Hawaiʻi. She has examined the expression of different world views in public health communication, linguistic hybridity in everyday conversation and in the media, language learning and identity among transnationals, and the shifting nature of the value of languages in their linguistic landscapes. Her current projects include research on family language policy and practices among new speakers of Hawaiian (with Haʻa Solomon), and a collaborative redesign of the linguistic and semiotic landscape of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's campus, with attention to Hawaiian history, language, culture, and geography. She is also involved in several citizen sociolinguistics projects about multilingual Hawaiʻi.
Dr. Higgins is director of the Charlene Junko Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies, which works to document, describe, and advocate for better understandings of Hawaiʻi Creole (known more commonly as Pidgin) and other historically stigmatized languages.
She teaches courses in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, intercultural communication, linguistic landscapes, and qualitative research methods. Prospective doctoral students interested in the sociolinguistics of multilingualism are welcome to contact her with inquiries about applying to the Ph.D. program in Second Language Studies.
Dr. Higgins is director of the Charlene Junko Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies, which works to document, describe, and advocate for better understandings of Hawaiʻi Creole (known more commonly as Pidgin) and other historically stigmatized languages.
She teaches courses in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, intercultural communication, linguistic landscapes, and qualitative research methods. Prospective doctoral students interested in the sociolinguistics of multilingualism are welcome to contact her with inquiries about applying to the Ph.D. program in Second Language Studies.
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Check out this well-produced video by the Armchair Linguist who interviewed me and several other people as part of his exploration of the languages of Hawaiʻi, with a focus on ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Pidgin. A great example of public sociolinguistics!
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Latest publications
Higgins, C. (2026). Applied linguistics: History, overview, and future directions. In Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 7., pp. 2–6. UK: Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00733-X.
Nguyen, H., Higgins, C. & Lipe, K. (2026). At an epistemological crossroads: International students’ experiences with a decolonizing campus tour. The Journal of Higher Education 97, 460-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2473707
Higgins, C. (2025). Gender, sexuality, and identities in language education. In Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 6., pp. 766–770. UK: Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.01249-7.
Higgins, C. & Urada, K. (2025). Citizen sociolinguists on the entanglements between Pidgin and English in social media spaces. In J. W. Lee and S. Rudiger (Eds.) Entangled Englishes (pp. 17-31). New York: Routledge.
Higgins, C. (2024). Toward un-WEIRDing academic publishing about language. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 289-290, 27-31.(Special Issue: The Politics of Academic Reading: 50th Anniversary Issue of IJSL)
Higgins, C. (2026). Applied linguistics: History, overview, and future directions. In Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 7., pp. 2–6. UK: Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00733-X.
Nguyen, H., Higgins, C. & Lipe, K. (2026). At an epistemological crossroads: International students’ experiences with a decolonizing campus tour. The Journal of Higher Education 97, 460-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2473707
Higgins, C. (2025). Gender, sexuality, and identities in language education. In Nesi, H., Milin, P. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3e. Vol 6., pp. 766–770. UK: Elsevier. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.01249-7.
Higgins, C. & Urada, K. (2025). Citizen sociolinguists on the entanglements between Pidgin and English in social media spaces. In J. W. Lee and S. Rudiger (Eds.) Entangled Englishes (pp. 17-31). New York: Routledge.
Higgins, C. (2024). Toward un-WEIRDing academic publishing about language. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 289-290, 27-31.(Special Issue: The Politics of Academic Reading: 50th Anniversary Issue of IJSL)
Contact information:
Christina Higgins
Department of Second Language Studies
1890 East-West Road
University of Hawaii at Mānoa
Honolulu, Hawai`i 96822
USA
[email protected]
808-956-8610
Christina Higgins
Department of Second Language Studies
1890 East-West Road
University of Hawaii at Mānoa
Honolulu, Hawai`i 96822
USA
[email protected]
808-956-8610
