Joan A. Kleinman Travel & Language Grant: Emma Miao

The Joan Andrea Kleinman Travel and Language Grant is made in memory of Joan A. Kleinman, a scholar of Chinese language and literature and co-researcher with Dr. Arthur Kleinman of projects in medical anthropology. Joan Andrea Kleinman was committed to language as the basis for cultural and international studies and developed Chinese fluency only after her initial graduate studies in French. The goal of this grant is to promote language acquisition for use in the service of global health research. The language acquisition aspect of the summer research project may involve formal coursework or informal tutoring.

One or two annual awards are made to support summer field research and language learning outside of the United States in East Asia: China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. This grant supports research on the broadest aspects of health, illness and social suffering. 

Emma Miao ('26, History & Literature) is a previous award recipient of the Joan Andrea Kleinman Travel and Language Grant. Her project, titled "Illuminating Qinghai: An Ethnography of China's Solar Frontier," subsequently laid the groundwork for her senior thesis. We're pleased to share Emma's recent statement about her experience:

Supported by the Joan A. Kleinman Fellowship, I spent two months in Qinghai and Zhejiang conducting an ethnography of the Chinese solar transition, interviewing technicians, executives, and regulators on their experience over the past decade. The summer became the foundation of my senior thesis in History & Literature on climate storytelling and environmental imagination, and it taught me that the energy transition is, above all, a human transition. Thank you so much to Arthur Kleinman and the Kleinman family for their generosity in supporting my research.

Photo above: The recipient with a plant technician at Talatan Solar Park in Gonghe County, Qinghai, China.

Special thanks to Emma for sharing her experience with us.