I am an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Oregon, where I teach courses on women's history, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and immigration, and consumerism. I returned to the West Coast in fall 2018, after three years on faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas. I earned my doctorate at Stanford University in 2015.
My current book project, Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture explores the American history of the Chinese parlor game mahjong in the first half of the twentieth century. Mapping the history of mahjong in widely varied settings – Shanghai salons, Angel Island Immigration Station, American Chinatowns, Catskill resorts, and postwar suburbia – the project places the game at the heart of modern American redefinitions of race, gender, and consumer culture.
Drawing from diverse archival sources, original oral histories, personal papers, popular media, photographs, and advertising, my research provides the first scholarly examination of mahjong and its broader cultural significance in America. Understanding the complex history of mahjong, I argue, provides crucial insights into the formation of American ethnic identities, the role of women in transnational consumerism, and the significance of leisure as a source of cultural meaning and identity.
More broadly, my work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in American and transpacific history. Before beginning graduate work, I lived in Southwest China 2007-2008, teaching English to graduate students at Yunnan University. Previously, I worked in education and social work in Washington State. A native of Southern California, I earned my B.A. in History at Whitman College in 2003.
I built this website to reach out to those who have mahjong memories, and also in the hope that it could be a community resource for teaching history. I launched it in the Winter 2012 and it is a work in progress – thanks for checking back. Please drop me a line if you have questions, suggestions, or other resources to share.
My current book project, Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture explores the American history of the Chinese parlor game mahjong in the first half of the twentieth century. Mapping the history of mahjong in widely varied settings – Shanghai salons, Angel Island Immigration Station, American Chinatowns, Catskill resorts, and postwar suburbia – the project places the game at the heart of modern American redefinitions of race, gender, and consumer culture.
Drawing from diverse archival sources, original oral histories, personal papers, popular media, photographs, and advertising, my research provides the first scholarly examination of mahjong and its broader cultural significance in America. Understanding the complex history of mahjong, I argue, provides crucial insights into the formation of American ethnic identities, the role of women in transnational consumerism, and the significance of leisure as a source of cultural meaning and identity.
More broadly, my work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in American and transpacific history. Before beginning graduate work, I lived in Southwest China 2007-2008, teaching English to graduate students at Yunnan University. Previously, I worked in education and social work in Washington State. A native of Southern California, I earned my B.A. in History at Whitman College in 2003.
I built this website to reach out to those who have mahjong memories, and also in the hope that it could be a community resource for teaching history. I launched it in the Winter 2012 and it is a work in progress – thanks for checking back. Please drop me a line if you have questions, suggestions, or other resources to share.
