#48: Retelling the Ramayana with Anjali Reddy ’22, English

Anjali spoke with Albert about her year studying the epic tale of the Ramayana and related texts that examine the story through both gender and caste.

Reed community members can read Anjali’s thesis, “The Power of The Novel: Recognizing The Subaltern in The Ramayana,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#30: Writing the Russian Revolution with Misha Lerner ’21, Russian

Join Misha and Amelie as they talk about Misha’s thesis on Leon Trotsky’s theory of revolutionary language and symbolism. You’ll also learn a bit about Misha’s thoughts on how the literary thesis experience is more of a reading project than a writing project.

Reed community members can read Misha’s thesis, “Trotsky Writes the Russian Revolution: The Symbol of the Explosion in Trotsky’s My Life and The History of the Russian Revolution and its Meta-Symbolic Significance,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#29: Republicanism and Blackness with Anesu Ndoro ’21, Anthropology

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.

#22: Afghanistan and the Taliban with Ethan Sandweiss ’19, History

Our host, Amelie Andreas ’24, speaks with Ethan Sandweiss ’19 about his thesis on Afghanistan entitled “Highway to Hell: Afghanistan, America, and the Fragmented State.” Since this episode concerned recent events, this interview focuses a little more on the content of the thesis, and a little less on the experience of writing the thesis, than our interviews usually do. It is also a little bit longer than most episodes.

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#20: Sexual Politics in Argentina with Dashiell Allen ’21, Spanish

Dashiell’s thesis exploration of sexual politics in Argentina in the 70s and 80s begins by examining a publication called Somos, an underground magazine published by what was likely the first lgbt political organization in Latin America. Dashiell also talks about what it was like to graduate Reed as a “spring/fall senior” (students who graduate in the fall instead of in the spring as most Reed students do).

Reed community members can read Dashiell’s thesis, “From Somos to Prosa plebeya: A Discussion of Sexual Politics in Argentina,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#10: The Politics of Pat Robertson with Lewis Chapman ’19, Political Science

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.