The Great Game
HIST 317
Spring 2027
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
GSAS 317 |
The term "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 what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Punjab, Kashmir, and Tibet. More recently the term (and the mental architecture and attitudes that have evolved to sustain it) has been applied to grand strategy, global geopolitics, and espionage more broadly, in scenarios as wide-ranging as Cold War "Containment" and the "War on Terror," as well as the more recent US "pivot to Asia," China's "Belt and Road Initiative," and "Global Biopolitics." 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 and literature. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS HIST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (History Minor)(History) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
:
Kipling, Kim
Hilton, Lost Horizon
Bankim, Anandamath
Harper, Underground Asia
Burton, First Anglo-Afghan Wars: A Reader
Silvestri, Policing `Bengali Terrorism¿
Pandey, From Sepoy to Subedar
French, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer
Lopez, Prisoners of Shangri La
Kautilya, Arthasastra
(And other readings made available by the instructor)
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Grade will be based on presentations, bibliographic exercises, text analysis, and research paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Pinch,William Times: ...W... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 2 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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