People
| Name: | Emma J. Teng |
| Title: | Associate Professor of Chinese Studies |
| Email: | eteng@mit.edu |
| Phone: | 617-253-4536 |
| Office: | 14N-421 |
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Emma J. Teng is the T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations and Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at MIT. She teaches courses in Chinese culture, Chinese migration history, Asian American history, East Asian culture, and women’s and gender studies. Professor Teng earned her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where she specialized in Chinese studies and Asian American studies. Her first book, Taiwan's Imagined Geography: Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683-1895, a study of Chinese colonial discourses on Taiwan, places the China-Taiwan relationship in the historical context of Chinese imperial expansionism. Her latest book, Eurasian: Mixed Identities in the United States, China and Hong Kong, 1842-1943, is forthcoming from the University of California Press. This work examines ideas concerning racial intermixing and the lived experiences of mixed families in China and the US between 1842 and 1943. Teng has also published articles in both US and international academic journals.
Prof. Teng was an American Fellow of the American Association for University Women (1996-97), a J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Art and the Humanities (2000-2001), and holder of the MIT Class of 1956 Career Development Professorship (2002-2005). In 2005 she was a recipient of the Levitan Prize in the Humanities and a co-winner (with Professor Erik Demaine of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) of the MIT Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award. She was awarded the Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and spent the academic year 2007-2008 as a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In 2013, Teng was named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow for her contributions to undergraduate teaching at MIT. She is a member of the Borders Research Initiative in Women’s and Gender Studies, and a co-chair of MIT’s Committee on Race and Diversity.
Prof. Teng holds a dual appointment in MIT's History Section.
For a list of Professor Teng's publications, please click here.
For inquiries regarding the Chinese language program, please contact Jin Zhang.
Read Far Eastern Economic Review's book review of Taiwan's Imagined Geography by clicking here.
Read an interview of Professor Teng by POTS.com.tw regarding Taiwan's Imagined Geography by clicking here.
ACLS Focus on Research
Borders Research Initiative
Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies Program
In the News:
Pg. 99: Emma Jinhua Teng's "Eurasian"
The Page 99 Test: Eurasian
The long history of 'Eurasian' identity
Teng named MacVicar Faculty Fellow
Teng joins MacVicar Fellows
