“Set this Chessboard and its Pieces Before Your Most Learned Men”: Teaching Chess and the Games of World History
Teaching Afroeurasian exchange using chess
Shortly after I began teaching at Friends Seminary, the Asia Society hosted a special exhibition, “Asian Games: The Art of Contest,” that explored the spread of games across Asia. I spent hours staring at different game boards and reading about how the games reflected patterns of cultural exchange. It was a special moment for me as a teacher because it showed me a new way to teach world history to students. Instead of focusing on economic and political history, games are a fun way to focus on cultural history. Many of the games in the exhibition were ones I grew up playing, and my students continued to play them. Students can quickly see the influence of thousand-year-old trade routes on their lives today.
Over the next month, I’ll explore the games of world history. Hundreds of games reflect historical exchange patterns, but a handful have rich histories spanning continents. I’ve also chosen games that show how Europeans both adapted from other cultures and facilitated the further spread of these games. The history of games is an excellent way to show how Europe fits into historical exchange patterns, without dominating them. In this first post, I’ll discuss the origins and spread of chess to learn about pre-modern Afroeurasian exchange.
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Teaching Games in World History
I doubt many teachers need to teach about games in world history. It’s not a topic that shows up in many state history standards. Even college instructors teaching world history surveys probably don’t think about teaching games. So why bother teaching games?
It’s easy to get caught up in teaching political and economic patterns in world history. Even when we teach culture, we focus on understanding the main ideas of universal religions, how they spread, and syncretism. By teaching about the history of games, we can introduce cultural history to students. It also helps that many games we still play today have surprising origins. Games often spread across Afroeurasia along major trade routes. As the games spread, they evolved and adapted to local societies. Teaching about games helps students see how maps of trade routes can have lasting legacies today. It wasn’t just spices, silks, textiles, and precious metals moving across Afroeurasia; it was also chess, mancala, and Chutes and Ladders.
Another bonus of teaching the history of games is that we can use lots of visual primary sources. When we center visual sources in our classes, it can help students who aren’t strong readers. Instead of trying to decode a Victorian translation of a medieval Persian text, students are analyzing images. Using images of games is a fun and inviting way to introduce complicated historical phenomena.
