Kim Ridealgh

I am currently Head of School for Media, Language and Communication Studies. Previously, I was Head of School for Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies, Head of Language and Communication Studies, PPL Admissions Director, and Faculty-lead for Widening Participation.  

Outside of UEA, I am an editor for the Journal of Historical Pragmatics and set up and run the Historical Politeness Network.

Currently, I am Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics and am responsible for teaching several modules across the School. These include ‘Language and Society’,  ‘Intercultural Communication across Borders’, 'Discourse and Power', and 'Discourse and Representation'. 

In 2012, I completed my PhD in Egyptology at Swansea University, where I also taught on the BA Egyptian History course. My PhD thesis examined social relationships displayed in the Late Ramesside Letters from ancient Egypt using Facework and Politeness. In 2013, I was appointed as Visiting Professor of Egyptology at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC) at Northeast Normal University in China, where I taught Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Coptic, and Egyptian Civilization to MA and PhD students. I have had research stays at the American University in Cairo, Leiden University and the FU Berlin. In 2014, I was appointed to my current role at UEA.

I manage and coordinate the Historical Politeness Network, which looks to promote politeness research in ancient languages and cultures. More details for this can be found at https://historicalpoliteness.com/

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My current research examines linguistic manifestations of politeness and interpersonal dynamics in a broader range of Late Egyptian letters from the Egyptian New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period. However, I am also interested in social dynamics and decorum, palaeography, semantics, epistolary texts from all periods, and female scribal tradition across the Near East. My research interests also cover Politeness Research more generally, Historical Pragmatics and translation practices. 

I am happy to supervise PhD students in the following areas: historical politeness and socio-linguistics/pragmatics, Ancient Egyptian philology and culture, gender studies, politeness studies, semantics, and discourse analysis (SFL/CDA). I am also happy to supervise any intercultural communication-based PhD.