Anesu spent his pandemic thesis year investigating Black conservative Republicans in the U.S., and examining how ideas of family connect Black conservatives and the Republican party.
Reed community members can read Anesu’s thesis, “Family Matters: Black Conservatives and Political Belonging in the Republican Party,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.
Lewis had a secular upbringing, but was fascinated by Fundamentalist Christianity in the U.S. from a young age. His political science department thesis gave him the opportunity to research Fundamentalism by examining the politics of Pat Robertson. Lewis spent a year and a half visiting churches and interviewing Fundamentalists, and also took an unplanned dive into social theory to find a working definition of “fundamentalist” in order to support his thesis.