Irina SOTIROVA

Visiting Scholar
Sofia University

 

 

 

 

 



Irina Sotirova is an Associate Professor at the Department of Korean Studies at Sofia University, Bulgaria. She teaches Korean language, Classical Chinese, and traditional Korean culture and religions. She holds an M. A. (2001) in Korean Studies with a dissertation on "Hyangga: Songs, Legends, and History" and a Ph.D. (2009) in Korean Studies with a thesis on "The Journey of the Hero to the Afterworld in the Korean Folk Tale." Her research focuses on Korean traditional culture and religions, as well as on astral beliefs in East Asia. Professor Sotirova is the author of more than thirty publications, and of the book "Myth of Tangun and Formation of Korean National Identity" (2016). Her latest work (2019) is the translation from Classical Chinese into Bulgarian of the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Korean Kingdoms). She has been teaching at various universities, including University of Warsaw, University of Vienna, Charles University in Prague, Comenius University in Bratislava, University of Bucharest, and Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. While at the Department in the summer semester 2019 she co-ordinates a course on "Astronomy and Religion in East Asia."