Kate Rebecca Stanton

Research Topic

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

My doctoral research investigates the East German women's movement from the mid 1970s until the mid 1990s. It examines how former feminist activists now reflect on their experiences in underground women's groups in the German Democratic Republic 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 was a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin for the 2023-2024 academic year, where I interviewed East German feminist activists and undertook archival research. 

Click here to read my blog post for the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies 

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 analysed the Historikerstreit (historians' quarrel) among West German historians in the 1980s. 

I am also a history and German teacher, holding a Master's degree in Secondary Teaching from the University of Sydney.

Supervisors: Professor Paul Betts & Dr Katherine Lebow