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Faculty Profile

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Emily Soon is an award-winning scholar and educator specializing in early modern English literature, with a focus on Southeast Asia’s representation and global literary exchanges.

Bridges early modern English literature with Southeast Asian cultural history, advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and educational innovation; recognized for excellence in teaching and curriculum development; actively contributes to public humanities and academic outreach.

Focused research areas include Imagining Southeast Asia in early modern English texts; intersections of trade, religion, and cultural identity in literary works; global and local perspectives in Shakespeare; literary cartography and maritime trade; cultural inclusivity in student performances.
Areas of Expertise
MediaCulture and SocietyEnglish LiteratureReligious StudiesSoutheast Asian Studies

Emily Soon joined SMU in 2020. Her research focuses on cross-cultural literary exchange between Asia and Europe in the premodern and modern eras. She received her PhD in English from King’s College London in 2019, having completed her MPhil in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and her BA (First Class Honours) in English and Related Literature at the University of York. Prior to joining SMU, she served as a Research Fellow at the National Museum of Singapore, where she studied Shakespeare’s place in Singapore’s cultural and educational history. Before that, she worked as a Curriculum Planning Officer in the Ministry of Education’s English Language and Literature Branch and taught Language Arts and Literature in an integrated programme school. Her research has been published in Modern Philology, Shakespeare Survey and England’s Asian Renaissance.

Qualifications

  • PhD, King’s College London, 2019
  • MPhil, University of Cambridge, 2012
  • BA, University of York, 2006

Research Interests

  • Literary and Cultural History of Singapore
  • Early Modern Literature
  • World Literature

Course(s) Taught in SMU

  • Big Questions
  • Asia and World Literature: Beyond Orientalism
  • Imagining the Self: Literature, Ethnicity and Gender in Asia