Eszter D Kovacs

Research Topic

'Normality and NASA: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in the US Cold War, 1957-1969'

Supervisor: Uta Balbier

My DPhil project aims to uncover how the early period of the US space programme mirrored wider notions of "normality" in a cultural Cold War context, analysing how NASA and the space race influenced cultural Cold War debates around the family, race, and sexuality.

Before my DPhil, I completed an MSt in Women's, Gender, and Queer History at Oxford (2024), where I focused on the history of abortion legislation and women's activism in state-socialist Hungary. I hold a BA in History with Spanish from University College London (2023). I am currently a postgraduate member of the Oxford Rothermere American Institute (RAI), a committee member of the LGBTQ+ History Network, and a DPhil representative on the Faculty's LGBTQ+ Working Group.