Kate Rebecca Stanton

Research Topic

`Einig Mutterland nicht in Sicht': An Oral History of the East German Feminist Movement, 1989-1990

My doctoral research investigates the East German women's movement from the early 1970s until the present. It examines how former feminist activists now reflect on their experiences in underground women's groups in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and how they were affected by the collapse of socialism. My research is funded by the John Roberts DPhil Scholarship in History at Merton College, Oxford.

I am a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin for the 2023-2024 academic year, where I will be interviewing East German feminist activists and undertaking archival research. This research residency has been made possible by the University of Sydney's Eleanor Sophia Wood Postgraduate Research Travelling Scholarship and continued financial support from Merton College.  

Click here to read more about my doctoral research in German

Previous Research: 

In 2020, I graduated with distinction from the University of Oxford, where I completed a Master of Studies in Modern European History. My dissertation, supervised by Professor Paul Betts, analysed reactions to the reunification of Germany in the East and West German press.

Before Oxford, I completed a Bachelor of Arts (Languages) (Honours) at the University of Sydney with a triple major in Ancient History, Modern History, and Germanic Studies. My Honours thesis, funded by the Emilie Schweizer Honours Scholarship, analysed the Historikerstreit (historians' quarrel) among West German historians in the 1980s. My thesis was awarded the Goethe Prize and the highest grade in the Germanic Studies Department. I was also the recipient of the M.A. Bailey Memorial Prize for achieving the best overall Honours grades across the Sub-Faculty of European Languages. 

I am also a qualified history and German teacher in the United Kingdom and Australia, holding an additional Master's degree in Secondary Teaching from the University of Sydney.

Supervisors: Professor Paul Betts & Dr Katherine Lebow