Spies and Scholars: How the Russian Empire Learned to Study China by Gregory Afinogenov

The long history of the relationship between Russia and China has been in the news a lot lately, but contemporary propaganda often obscures its true nature. In his talk, Dr GregoryAfinogenov looks at Russian espionage in 18th-century China, its history, methods and what it was supposed to accomplish. He will also examine how Russo-Chinese relations fit into a broader global context, especially Russia's long imperial rivalry with Great Britain. Dr Afinogenov will explain how, in order to understand Russia's aspirations to world power, it is essential to understand how it produced and used different kinds of knowledge: from espionage - in the form of both information-gathering and "active measures" - to scholarship.

Dr Gregory Afinogenov is an Associate Professor of Imperial Russian History at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  He received his Ph.D in Russian history from Harvard University and his B.A. in history and philosophy from Fordham University (New York City). At Georgetown University, he teaches courses on Imperial and 20th century Russian history. His first book, Spies and Scholars: Chinese Secrets and Imperial Russia’s Quest for World Power, which provides the basis for this talk, was published by Harvard University Press in 2020. In this book, he looks at the construction of a Russian intelligence network in Qing Dynasty China between 1650 and 1850 and the global ramifications of Imperial knowledge-making in Tsarist Russia. More broadly, Dr. Afinogenov’s research has included everything from cybernetics in the Soviet Union to pastoral poetry in 18th-century New York. In addition to academic publications, his articles and reviews have appeared in publications such as Jacobin and the London Review of Books. Dr Afinogenov’s current book project examines the pursuit of political restorations in Russia and France after the French Revolution.