Providing a Path for Lifelong Learning
John and Tara welcome Centre Trail's new intern Payton, and Tara shares her research on a parody of the college catalog produced by Centre College students in 1854. Be ready for hilarious stories of one legged professors and the noble sport of turkey stealing. Off to the wars again!
John and Tara talk about the tragic fire at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. What does it mean to lose these records of human knowledge, and how do historians approach the reality of limitations to the knowledge we have collected? What are archives and how do historians use them? We talk broadly… Continue reading Centre Trail Podcast 17: Archives and Records of Human Knowledge
Following the passing of Senator John McCain, we discuss the history of social conventions honoring the passing of public figures, particularly in political office. In the United States, the importance of lowering flags can become the center of huge discussions and arguments regarding respect; furthermore, John McCain's passing and the trajectory of his political career… Continue reading Centre Trail Podcast 16: Passing Away of Public Figures
Marco! Polo! For years, I knew Marco Polo as so many others first come to know him, clearly an accomplished hider and seeker in medium sized swimming pools. In time I learned he was a Venetian trader who traveled the world, and only later learned the man was a rather shameless teller of tales if… Continue reading The truth, the whole truth and Marco Polo’s version of the truth
Professors do not get summers off, at least not typically. Even at a teaching-focused institution like Centre College, research forms an important part of our professional lives, and given the strong focus on teaching the summer often presents the best opportunity to get some research done. As a direct result of that, I spent my… Continue reading Summer Research
Yet another blog post written with the hulking specter of all the blog posts I haven't written this summer sitting behind me, rather pointedly not saying anything. Still, here we are, back again. I am excited about the autumn, with one of my favourite classes, "Creating the Orient", making a comeback. Last time I taught… Continue reading The Fall Approaches
This past spring, I taught a class on Popular Sport & the Modern World, with a pretty wide brief... the basic outlines of the class held our discussions to the mid-nineteenth century and later, but we read and discussed topics from the emergence of association football in industrial England to segregation in American baseball to… Continue reading Chasing History: Industrialization and Sport
We are coming to the end of the term here at Centre College, with commencement only a few days away. This semester has proved to be very, very busy for us here. I have been completely wrapped up in my new class "Popular Sport and the Modern World." I had buckets of fun, and was… Continue reading Popular Sport and the Modern World
Where did we go? This is the first year of Centre Trail's existence, and we are having a great time. We are also learning a lot, particularly about the ability of two faculty members at a teaching intensive college to keep up the maintenance of a blog site and podcast! It has been a few… Continue reading Where Did We Go???
This week in my class on popular sport and the modern world, we are discussing Brazilian soccer. In particular, we are moving towards discussions of cultural representations of “samba football” within and outside of Brazil. Our reading, Howard Goldblatt’s Futebol Nation, makes some fascinating arguments about the connections between the evolution and celebration of Brazilian… Continue reading Futebol Nation
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