Biographical Summary

Ruth Pope joined the GHI as a Guest Scholar in September 2023. Her dissertation project examines the contemporary history of sexual violence against children in West Germany from the perspective of the history of knowledge. From 2015 to 2021 she studied Political Science and History in Münster, Vienna and Oslo. Currently, she is a research assistant at the Research Institute for Contemporary History in Hamburg (Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg).

Research Project

• Sexual Violence against Children: Contested Knowledge in the Federal Republic, 1980-2010
  In her dissertation project Ruth focuses on how feminists and women who had been sexually abused as children founded self-help groups and counseling centers in the early 1980s and produced and disseminated new knowledge about the origins, prevalence, and consequences of sexual violence against children. In doing so, they challenged the dominant interpretations of the mostly male scientific experts and, in the long run, changed the public discourse on sexual violence against children. During her stay at the GHI and later visits to various archives, she seeks to identify points of contact and exchange of knowledge with organizations against sexual violence in the United States.