Bianca Trifoi, Ph.D.
Historian of North Korea and the Cold War
About
Hi! I am Term Assistant Professor of Asia and the World at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and I received my Ph.D. in History from the George Washington University. I am a historian of North Korea and the Cold War, and my research interests include children and childhood, socialist discourse in everyday contexts, mundanity and everyday life, print culture and aesthetics, socialist solidarity and internationalism, and the use of oral history and biography to study the Cold War. My current research focuses particularly on 1950s-1960s North Korea, though I have worked and published on topics on North Korea ranging from its founding in 1948 to the present day.
Recent Work
“Protestantism and Christianity on the Korean Peninsula – A Bridge or Barrier to Korean Reconciliation and Cooperation?” Published as part of the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power project at Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University, November 2024
“Children at the Center of Society: Prospects for the Study of Childhood in North Korea.” North Korean Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 2024, pp. 74–87
Contact
Curriculum Vitae
Professional AppointmentsTerm Assistant Professor of Asia and the World
University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA
History Department
2025 - presentEducationDoctor of Philosophy in History | 2025
The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USAMaster of Arts in Asian Studies | 2017
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USABachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts (Honors) | 2015
Florida Atlantic University Wilkes Honors College, Jupiter, FL, USA
Graduated cum laude
Major Concentrations: International Studies and SpanishPublications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
“Children at the Center of Society: Prospects for the Study of Childhood in North Korea.” North Korean Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 2024, pp. 74–87. Available hereBook Reviews
Review of Panda, Ankit, Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea. H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews. July 2022. Available hereOther Publications
“Protestantism and Christianity on the Korean Peninsula – A Bridge or Barrier to Korean Reconciliation and Cooperation?” Published as part of the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power project at Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs,
Georgetown University. November 2024. Available hereSelected Conference and Workshop ParticipationPanels Organized
Co-Organizer, Panel: “North Korea as Site(s) of Knowledge Production: Rethinking Public Health, Germ Warfare, and Nuclear Technology Discourse on and in North Korea,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Columbus, OH, March 13-16, 2025Organizer, Roundtable Discussion: “Knowing the ‘Unknowable’ North Korea: Roundtable Discussion with Young Scholars of North Korea,” Association for Asian Studies in Asia (AAS-in-Asia) Annual Conference, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, July 9-11, 2024Organizer, Panel: “Rediscovering Children in Socialism: Children, Childhood, and Childrearing in 1950-1960s China and North Korea,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 14-17, 2024Papers Presented
“‘Can We Call this a Hygienic and Cultured Home?’ Child Public Health Discourse in Postwar North Korea, 1950s-1960s,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Columbus, OH, March 13-16, 2025“‘Children of the Heroes’ Nation:’ Children, Childhood, and the State in 1950s–1960s North Korea,” 14th Annual Cold War History Research Center International Student Conference at Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary, May 22-23, 2024“‘Families Foster the Future Members of Society’: Issues with Families and Childrearing in 1950s-1960s North Korea,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 14-17, 2024“Divergent Realities: A Critique of the Scholarship on Korean Reunification,” International Institute of Korean Studies K-Unification Friends International Conference for Young Scholars, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK, December 1-2, 2023 (presented remotely)“A Simpler Past: Analyzing Nostalgia in Contemporary North Korean Children’s Literature,” Korea International Studies Association Fifteenth Annual Convention, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, November 24-25, 2023“‘Lacking the Spirit of Revolution’: Families, Childrearing, and the North Korean State in the 1950s-60s,” 2023 Kyujanggak International Symposium on Korean Studies, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, November 2-4, 2023“‘Our Society is for Our Kids and Descendants’: Families, Childrearing, and the North Korean State in the 1950s-60s,” International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, May 11-13, 2023Workshops AttendedMichigan Korean Studies Summer Institute
Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan, 2025GWIKS Graduate Student Research and Publication Workshop
GW Institute for Korean Studies, The George Washington University, 2024, 2025 (remote)North Korea from a Near Distance Tour and Workshop
NK News and Koryo Tours, Seoul, South Korea, 2023Kyujanggak Korean Studies Summer Workshop
Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University, 2023 (remote)GWIKS North Korea Program
GW Institute for Korean Studies, The George Washington University, 2020 (remote)Selected Grants, Fellowships, and AwardsPhilip Amsterdam Graduate Student Teaching Award (Nominated)
The George Washington University, 2025Korean Studies Graduate Student Travel Grant
Association for Asian Studies, 2024, 2025Dean’s Graduate Lectureship
The George Washington University, 2024Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
The George Washington University / U.S. Department of Education, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Institute Fellow
The Wilson Center, 2023-2024MOU-IFES North Korean Studies Fellowship
South Korean Ministry of Unification / The Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University, 2023Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship (Alternate)
U.S. Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education Office, 2023Boren Fellowship (Declined)
U.S. Defense Language and National Security Education Office, 2023Best Thesis Award
Florida International University, 2017Flagler Scholar (Full merit scholarship)
Florida Atlantic University Wilkes Honors College, 2011-2015Teaching ExperienceThe George Washington University, History Department (Washington, D.C.)
Instructor of Record
HIST 1000 The Many Histories of Contemporary East Asia (Fall 2024)Graduate Teaching Assistant
HIST 3332 History of American Foreign Policy Since WWII (Spring 2024)
HIST 2340W U.S. Diplomatic History (Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022)
HIST 1011 World History from 1500 (Fall 2019)Florida International University, Asian Studies Department (Miami, FL)
Teaching Assistant
ASN 3410 Intro to East Asian History (Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017)
KOR 1113 Korean I (Fall 2016)Work ExperienceInternational Baccalaureate (IB) Examiner – IB History HL
(grading English- and Spanish-language exams)
International Baccalaureate Organization (remote work)
2024-presentAdvanced Placement (AP) Exam Reader — AP World History
Educational Testing Services (remote work)
2020-presentEnglish Teacher
Pagoda Academy, Seoul, South Korea
2017-2018LanguagesEnglish: native (excellent command of English grammar, vocabulary, and spelling)
Romanian: native/heritage
Spanish: fluent
Korean: low-advancedKorean Language StudyInter-University Center at Sungkyunkwan University
Advanced Academic Korean, 2024Seoul National University Language Education Institute (서울대학교언어교육원), Seoul, South Korea
2016, 2017, 2018, 2022Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
2021Professional AssociationsAssociation for Asian Studies