UCSB Doctoral Candidate Diandian Zeng Awarded 21st Century Fellowship

Doctoral student Diandian Zeng was awarded the 21st Century Fellowship from the Society for Ethnomusicology. The 21st Century Fellowship supports excellence in ethnomusicological research by providing funding to two highly qualified Ph.D. students each year for their dissertation fieldwork.

Diandian Zeng is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at UC Santa Barbara. Her dissertation is an ethnographic study of the role sonic care plays in the aging process of senior Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles. The study examines how everyday musical activities function as an embodied form of care within the social infrastructures that address both the emotional and physical experiences of aging immigrants. By drawing attention to age-related hearing impairment, the project also explores how seniors’ changing auditory experiences reshape their relationship to self and communities, and to the broader sounding world—changes that require both clinical support and sociocultural understanding.

Zeng earned her B.A. in Musicology, with a minor in Music Therapy, from the Central Conservatory of Music, and her M.A. in Ethnomusicology from UCSB. Her broader interests include music and health, sound and embodiment, and radio studies. She has worked as a music therapist in multiple clinical institutions and is currently undertaking a recreational therapy internship at a senior day care and medical facility as part of her dissertation fieldwork.

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