I’m Miguel Centellas. As a political science professor, academic interests are a significant part of my personal life. I post on Bolivian politics, interesting books, pop culture, and daily life in a Baltimore.View my (old) academic pages at Dickinson College.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Pronto* in April 2007. They are listed from newest to oldest. For a list of other monthly archives, see the right sidebar; you may also look through the archives or search by keywords.
I’ll admit that I didn’t openly talk about the Virginia Tech murders, neither in my classes (as some of my colleagues did) nor among friends/colleagues. In part, frankly, because I’m never sure how one is supposed to (publicly) deal w/ such matters. In part, because I think the issue (cf. the Columbine murders) is often framed in a way I find socially distasteful. In short: social-collective masochistic entertainment.
During a recent visit to the Camp Hill B&N, on a lark, I purchased How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, by Franklin Foer (a New Republic editor). I only started it last night, but I’m already heavily engrossed. Foer’s a good writer—and he’s well-read in social theory & political history.
Just a reminder: this site is still very much under construction. I’m making progress on the layout, but category & monthly archive templates are still unfinished. In the meantime, I’ve added a ClustrMaps widget, which should begin recording visitor stats soon.
I know I’ve not posted much about Bolivia (or really, anything) in some time. And though much has happened (e.g. border disputes between provinces in Tarija), I’ve been too focused on catching up w/ my coursework. But I wanted to highlight this recent piece in Tiempo Político1 by Herber Müller: “La necesidad de construir un verdadero pacto social [The need to build a new social pact].”
It’s a little early, but I’m starting to think about books for Spring 2008, when I teach Latin American Government & Politics again. I’ve decided that country focuses (yes, I know it’s actually “foci”) are probably best (and well liked by students), but I want ones that highlight some distinct element of a “comparative politics” approach to the study of Latin America.
Sometimes I like running little experiments—simulations, games, activities—in my classes. I think they’re useful to illustrate a point, or to dissect an argument, or even just to make complex ideas more accessible (and fun). This week I roped another six faculty into my latest project: presidential voting simulations.
So. The faculty intramural soccer team (“A Useful Education”) is out of the playoffs, after we went down 3-1 against the defending champs in the semifinals. Not too shabby. And we were keeping up w/ ’em most of the game.
I’m particularly pleased that the Dickinson intramural faculty team (Team “A Useful Education”) won its first game—and in the playoffs, where it really counted! Sadly, I missed the excitement, since I was attending an evening presentation by Julio Carrión (U of Delaware), the Latin American Studies guest speaker.
The MPSA conference was great. I enjoyed most of the panels that I attended, including the two I presented on. Even if I was the only presenter w/o regression tables (which is usually a must at MPSA conference). But my paper on Bolivian presidentialism was especially well received—which actually sparked the perfect idea for how to frame my “book” (as I move from dissertation to book manuscript in the next few months).
Last weekend was my birthday & Easter (a happenstance that occurs at regular intervals). And I treated myself to a bizarre mix of presents. I flew to Chicago on Friday to see K8 (she’s teaching at U of Chicago this quarter), spending the post-birthday Easter brunch in Illinois. In between, we drove through a mild April Michigan snowstorm (I wouldn’t call it a “blizzard”—though K8 might disagree) into Kalamazoo. There we saw some friends, caught up over beer & pizza at Bilbo’s (yes, it’s Lord of the Rings themed), before heading off to St. Tom’s for the Easter Vigil.
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Along w/ a small group of Dickinson faculty, I’ve been playing soccer on a regular basis since August (until it snowed, when we didn’t play for months). Two weeks ago, we formed a team to play in the college co-ed intramural soccer league. Last week, we lost 5-0 to (we found out later) the defending intramural league champs. This week, we lost 2-1 (but we scored; thank you, Bockelman!)—and that despite missing several of our regulars.
I’m presenting two papers at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in Chicago next weekend. The second paper is (finally!) finished; here’s the abstract:
