Sarah (She/Her) is a PhD candidate at Brandeis University specializing in loyalty, community violence, and the repression of political dissent during the era of the American Revolution. ​ Her dissertation, “Policing the Revolution: Massachusetts Communities and The Committees of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety, 1773-1783” explores the Committees through the lens of early American carcerality. Exploring extra-legal reprisals, intimidation, incarceration, and property confiscation, this dissertation argues that the Committees employed an ever-expanding definition of loyalty as a method of social control, ensuring community compliance with the Revolutionary effort by repressing political dissent. Her work has been supported by the Massachusetts Historical Society / Society of the Cincinnati Fellowship, the Gilder Lehrman Short Term Fellowship, the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada, and the Wellesley Mary McEwen Schimke Fellowship. She holds a Masters Degree in History from the University of Edinburgh and a BA from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. In 2021 she received the MHS Society of the Cincinnati and Gilder Lehrman Short Term Fellowships. You can follow Beth on Twitter: @phdinprogress17

Office 216

Discover how a graduate student’s temporary office space serves as a metaphor for their sense of unbelonging throughout their academic journey, and how they find solace in making the most of the temporary joys that come their way.

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Navigating Reflexivity: A Guided Example to Move Beyond Reflection

Need guidance writing the reflexivity section of your thesis (or indeed writing reflexively throughout the thesis)? This article defines reflexivity as going beyond reflection to consider the influence of our positionality on our work. It covers three main types of reflexivity – personal reflexivity, methodological reflexivity and philosophical reflexivity – and includes some working examples to illustrate the thought processes and questions that facilitate transparency and rigor in research.

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