The "Great Game" was first popularized by Rudyard Kipling in his classic novel "Kim" (1901), where it referred to spycraft in the service of empire. The term gradually came to refer to the struggle for "mastery" of Asia during the 19th century, mainly between the British and Russian Empires. Nowhere were the effects of this imperial rivalry more pronounced than in Pakistan and Afghanistan. More recently the term has been applied to grand strategy, global geopolitics, and espionage, more broadly in scenarios as wide-ranging as Cold War "containment," the global "War on Terror," the current US "pivot" to Asia, and China's "Belt and Road Initiative."
This seminar will examine the history of the Great Game--as both spycraft and great power rivalry--and its wider geopolitical reverberations. We will also examine an array of Great Game manifestations in popular culture. Readings will combine historical narrative and analysis with film, literature, art, and (yes) games. |