Dr. Jennifer C. Hsieh (謝，pronounced “shay”) is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford in 2017 and has held research fellowships at the Vossius Center at the University of Amsterdam, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and the Fairbank Center at Harvard. Her research has further been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and Stanford Humanities Center.
Dr. Hsieh uses a combination of ethnographic, historical, and experimental methods, including audio recordings, soundwalks, and GIS, to explore the multisensory configurations of human sociality. Her ethnographic sensibilities were cultivated during her time as a Congressional Page for the U.S. House of Representatives, which coincided with 9/11, and in which she witnessed the national response from within the House Chambers. This, combined with her background as a classically-trained pianist and studio audio engineer, led to her unique approach to anthropology that brings together sensory studies, science and technology studies, and anthropology of the state. Of significance to her research is a sustained, interdisciplinary commitment to the history of technology, media and communication studies, musicology, and Asian studies.
Dr. Hsieh’s work has appeared in American Ethnologist, Sound Studies Journal, and the edited volume Testing Hearing: The Making of Modern Aurality (2020, Oxford University Press). She has a forthcoming article in Hau: The Journal of Ethnographic Theory and a forthcoming chapter in the edited volume, Resounding Taiwan: Musical Reverberations across a Vibrant Island (2021, Routledge Press).
A Taiwanese American, Dr. Hsieh grew up in Richardson, Texas, minutes away from the shops and restaurants of Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Chinatown. Her bicultural upbringing has led to her commitment to providing an inclusive learning environment for students. Over the years, she has made efforts to facilitate equity and inclusion by tutoring bilingual youth from immigrant households, developing leadership skills among underrepresented college students, and mentoring international students. Prior to becoming Assistant Professor, she was a University of Michigan LSA Collegiate Fellow.
Education
Ph.D. Stanford University, 2017
M.A. Columbia University, 2009
B.A. Harvard College, magna cum laude, 2007
Awards and Fellowships (Selected)
- Institute for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship, University of Michigan
- Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Fellowship
- Wenner-Gren Doctoral Dissertation Fieldwork Award
- Stanford Humanities Center, Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowship, Stanford, CA
- Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar, Berlin, Germany
- University of Amsterdam, Junior Vossius Fellowship, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Fairbank Center at Harvard University, Hou Family Visiting Fellowship, Cambridge, MA
- Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica, Visiting Research Associate, Taipei, Taiwan
More information is available in the section, “Media & Events.”