Sallyportal: Madly Blogging Reed

Sperling Studentship Winner off to Cambridge

By Laura Dallago ’18 on August 12, 2016 12:00 PM

Mimi Howard ’15 won a Sperling Studentship to get a Master of Philosophy at Cambridge University

“I’m most looking forward to re-inhabiting rainy environs, avoiding Trump, and studying conservatism in post-referendum Britain,” says recent grad Mimi Howard ‘15 who is headed to Cambridge University on a Sperling Studentship award.

The grant provides for a year-long Master of Philosophy program in Political Thought and Intellectual History at the institution and is funded by Reed and Cambridge alumnus John Sperling '48.

Studying reactionary thought in late 19th and early 20th century German aesthetic theory, Mimi is focusing on “the historical shift from the use of Greek words as organizing concepts to the introduction of distinctly German ones towards the end of the Weimar era.” Works by Nietzsche, Spengler, and more minor thinkers will provide the source material for the researched-based degree, in which all graduates are expected to make at least a “contribution” to learning through a written dissertation. By and large, Mimi is curious about when these works’ “engagement with the Classics” moves beyond the philosophy borderline and “produces a politics.”

Mimi is grateful for experiencing professor emeritus Ülker Gokberk’s brief return from retirement and thanks Reed professors Hugh Hochman and Benjamin Lazier for their “formative and often revelatory” classes. Moreover, the latter professors and the Center for Life Beyond Reed were crucial to winning the award Mimi describes as a “beautiful gift” which “gives form to boundless energy and generosity of a Reed education [and] its capacity to carry over into future pursuits.”

 

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