Providing a Path for Lifelong Learning
Last week in my class on the history of popular sport in the modern world, we looked at Gaelic Games and the interaction of sport and nationalist identity in twentieth century Ireland. Following from previous weeks, when we discussed how segregation mitigated baseball’s claim to being the American Pastime and manifestations of religious tensions in… Continue reading The West’s Awake
The Chinese Communist Party has made major news across the planet in the last week, after removing term limits from the positions of president and vice president (though Chinese leader Xi Jinping is not actually “president”, that title more a result of convenience in English translation). The move has generated enormous interest in the Western… Continue reading The Power of Words: Xi Jinping’s Show of Force
Tara and John get together at the end of Black History Month to discuss the life of Frederick Douglass, whose two hundredth birthday was this past February 14th. We particularly focus on the impact of his famous memoir A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and think about this month’s release of the new… Continue reading Centre Trail Podcast 15: Frederick Douglass & Black Panther
Tara and John discuss the Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea and some wider historical questions around the Olympic Games. Where does this idea come from, how does it translate into a type of “Olympic ideal” and what are some of the ramifications of this for how countries interact with each other?
In honor of our podcast coming out tomorrow, here are a few links to good reads about the olympics: Why are Jamaican runners so good? This article tackles some of the historical and cultural issues embedded in that question. Skis are more than 4,000 years old. And according to this piece they have changed a… Continue reading Olympic Roundup
Tara and John talk about St. Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, which this year fall on the same day, raising interesting comparisons about their broader cultural impact. Come for the discussion of historical context of two juxtaposed cultural practices, stay for the sweet Anne of Cleves references.
Below is a story from Tara's CentreTerm Class on Alternate History. Our author is Aarthi Vadhanam, a senior math major, who chose to think about the creation of the modern Middle East. In this story, she imagines an Iran that was friendly with the United States and a major player in Middle Eastern politics. She… Continue reading We are Pain and What Cures Pain, Both
The latest news cycle is full of reports concerning President Trump's desire to have a grand military parade in Washington D.C. The impetus behind this supposedly lies with the President's positive reaction to experiencing France's annual Bastille Day parade in person and a desire to recognize the service of the men and women of the… Continue reading Standing Armies and Military Parades
This week in my upper division class on the history of popular sport in the modern world, we are talking about working class culture in nineteenth century Britain and the development of professional association football (soccer, to my students). In Britain today, soccer retains the aura of a working class sport, albeit one under assault.… Continue reading British Football and Working Class Culture
Tara and John get together as the spring semester at Centre College starts to get underway. John is teaching the history of modern popular sport, and he talks a little about how to define sports and what kind of interesting historical questions that activity raises. Tara revisits her blog post on Founding Fathers, and talks… Continue reading Centre Trail Podcast 12: When is a sport a sport, and what’s a Founding Father?
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