Mahjong! How a Chinese Game Shaped Modern American Culture

Mahjong is currently enjoying its largest boom in popularity since the 1920s, almost exactly 100 years ago. Yet few players know little about its fascinating trajectory, although today's mahjong moment and its controversies are rooted in the past century of mahjong's American story.

Annelise Heinz, a professor of history at the University of Oregon, has researched mahjong's American history for over fifteen years, uncovering the surprising story of how one game shaped identity, community, and belonging.

In this single-session course, Professor Heinz brings its story to life with images from her research in the dusty rooms of archives like the Parker Brothers "room of old games" right off the factory floor, to the scrapbook one of the National Mah Jongg League’s founders made in the 1930s, along with dozens of personal interviews with people who shared their memories. 

Tue, 8/25 | 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET  | 1 Session