Emma J. Teng

Emma Teng is the T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations at MIT. She teaches classes 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 (2004) 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 (2013), 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. Her current research focuses on Chinese educational migration to the US under Chinese Exclusion and Chinese American women’s culinary writing. Teng has served on various Institute committees, including the Committee on Race and Diversity, the MLK Celebration Committee, the International Advisory Committee, the Karl Taylor Compton Lectures Advisory Committee, the Committee on Student Life, the LMS Faculty Advisory Committee, and Task Force 2021. She has served as the Director of the MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies, Head of Global Studies and Languages, and the Director of Global Languages. Beyond MIT, Teng has served on the Board of Directors for the Association for Asian Studies, as Chair of the China and Inner Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies, as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Asian Studies, on the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Faculty Advisory Board for the North American Taiwan Studies Association, the International Advisory Board for the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University, and on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Mass Humanities. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Taiwan Studies.