Department of History
Chair for Modern and Contemporary History/North American History

Kirsten Becker, M.A., M.Ed.
Research Associate

E-Mail: Kirsten Becker

Ms. Becker is currently writing a dissertation with the working title "Symbolic Communication of Colonial and State Legislatures, c. 1760-1820".
Please refer to the website of the Münster Doctoral School of History (PGM) for a description of the dissertation project.

Office hour: click here

Münster University
Department of History
Fürstenberghaus, room 219 a (3rd floor)
Domplatz 20-22
48143 Münster

Curriculum Vitae

Education and Training

Work Experience

Scholarships

• Erasmus, Swansea University (Winter Term 2018/19)
• Deutschlandstipendium, ProTalent, WWU Münster (04/2018 – 09/2020)
• GHI-GSP Fellowship at the Horner Library, Philadelphia – German Historical Institute (Washington), German Society of Pennsylvania, USA (06-07/2024)

Presentations/Talks

• „Sichtbarkeit, Legitimität und symbolische Ordnung in den State Legislatures der frühen amerikanischen Republik, ca. 1760 bis 1820“, Presentation of the dissertation project as part of the “Research for Future” colloquium of the Münster Doctoral School of History (PGM), Summer 2025
• “Symbolic Communication of Colonial and State Legislatures, c. 1760-1820”, presentation at the Annual Conference of the Historians of the German Association for American Studies, “Illusion, Fake, and Fraud in American History, Tutzing, May 9–11, 2025
• “Politics on Display: Visibility, Performance, and Power in Early American State Legislatures – Symbolic Communication of Colonial and State Legislatures, c. 1760-1820”, presentation at the Spring Academy of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Heidelberg, March 24–28, 2025
• “Symbolic Communication of Colonial and State Legislatures, c. 1760-1820”. Presentation of Dissertation Project at event organized by the German Society of Pennsylvania, USA (20 June 2024)
• "The early British Prime Ministers in Public Perception, c. 1742–1754" (Workshop "The Public Sphere and Early Modernity" at CEU in Vienna, August 2022)

Academic Functions and Memberships

• 10/2025 –     Co-Speaker of the Centre for Empire Studies. (Post)Colonial Histories and Global Entanglements, University of Münster 
• 01/2025 –     Member of the Münster Doctoral School of History (Promotionsschule Geschichte Münster, PGM)
• 10/2024 –     Mid-Level Faculty Representative, History Department, University of Münster

Public Outreach

• 19 April 2025: „Der Auftakt zum Amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitskrieg“ (“The Outbreak of the American War of Independence”), WDR Zeitzeichen (radio interview)

Teaching

• Winter Term 2025/26: Introduction to Modern History: Just a Pre-War Period? The USA in the “Antebellum Era”, c. 1837 to 1861 
• Winter Term 2025/2026: Seminar (Übung): “The mob begin to think and to reason”. Social and political protests in North America, c. 1760 to 1840 
• Summer Term 2025: Introduction to Modern History: “Empire of Liberty” or the birth of a nation. Political, social and cultural developments in the early American Republic, c. 1789–1820 
• Winter Term 2023/24: Introduction to Modern History: Between “Great Depression” and „New Deal”. The US in the Crisis-Ridden 1930s 
• Summer Term 2023: Introduction to Modern History: The American Revolution