Category: Uncategorized
Doing New Things
We have been busy this spring around here, with lots of good and important work to do, but the preparatory work for future classes never really stops either. A few weeks ago I took a major step towards developing a new class for Centre Term in 2020. Centre Term, as a quick reminder, is our ...
Centre Trail Podcast 23: Baseball in Taiwan
John and Tara celebrate Opening Day in the United States by talking about the subject of John’s book coming out this summer: baseball… in Taiwan! Come for tales of imperialism and cultural interaction across the Pacific, stay for slightly graphic accounts of intensive high school baseball training sessions.
Centre Trail Podcast 22: Quakers and Multiracial Communities in Ohio
This week we talk about Tara’s latest publication, a book chapter about multiracial communities in antebellum Ohio. We discuss Quakerism and slavery in North America and the complexities of multiracial identities and communities in early nineteenth century Ohio.
Why Every History Major Should Seriously Consider the Gap Year
So having just returned from the Latin American Studies conference in Austin, graduate school is on my mind. I am taking time after graduation to serve in the PeaceCorps and I have been thinking a lot about why I made that decision. In this article, I am going to explain why I believe a gap ...
Centre Trail Podcast 21: Age of the Samurai
Tara quizzes John on his class on medieval and early modern Japanese history, “Age of the Samurai.” We discuss how the title relates to the content, the romanticization of the samurai and the historical context of Japanese ritual suicide.
Spoiling the Spoils of War
Centre’s recent defeat in the SAA men’s basketball championship has left me contemplating why we love to stuff our glass cabinets with bits of shiny metal. What is it about things acquired through competition and sweat that makes our hearts swell with victory or crash with defeat? It isn’t just the collection of artifacts that ...
Smashing the Patriarchy on Valentine’s Day
If your Facebook feed looks anything like mine, you have seen A LOT of valentine memes this week. I love this whole genre; the cute, weird, pun-filled images remind me of the popular cards made and bought throughout the Victorian period. Years ago now I remember seeing the dictator card memes like this one: And ...
