Seoyoon Lee

  

Volume 9 | Issue II | June 2025

Harvard-Westlake School ’26

California, United States

  

Lying at the core of culture, I have always believed that language fosters a blueprint for a country’s political, social, and national identity. I began exploring the anthropology of the spoken word through a study of languages including English, Korean, Spanish, and Latin. Simultaneously, the core elements of identity and cultural oppression caused me to venture into the world of Mongolian. After three years of studying the language, I noticed that this area of the world is sorely neglected by the media and the international stage. With this realization, my interest in language and culture transformed into a passion for empowering the collective voice of underrepresented cultures and communities. I discovered the topic of this paper, linguistic oppression and triumph, intersected with my interest in border studies, specifically in regions of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. As I began writing, I desired to present a holistic and compelling view on language policies. The Schola was instrumental in my understanding of the subject I was writing about, giving a name to the area of research I was most pulled toward: sociolinguistics. Completing the writing and revision process was a fulfilling end to the last three years, and I look forward to sharing my work with the world. I hope to continue writing, using what I have learned from The Schola to develop and publish further works in this academic field.