Home University: University of Waterloo
Email: a2hooper@uwaterloo.ca
Education: BA (Hons) History, Ryerson; MA History, Waterloo
LinkedIn: amanda-hooper
Instagram: @stumbling.stones
Research fields: Cold War Era, Modern European, Public History
Supervisor: Gary Bruce
Amanda Hooper is a PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo. She received her Honours Bachelor of Arts in History from Ryerson University and her Master of Arts in History from the University of Waterloo. As a Master’s student, Amanda researched East German Holocaust Memory, from films and film production to the memorialization of former Nazi concentration camps, including Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen under the supervision of Dr. Gary Bruce.
During her MA, Amanda created an Instagram page @stumbling.stones in hopes of engaging younger audiences with Holocaust memory and memorialization. Her account explores identities and stories of Holocaust victims of Berlin memorialized through Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones), small memorials placed outside victims’ former homes or workplaces. Amanda utilizes online archives and databases like Yad Vadshem and Arlosen Archives to bring the experiences of these Holocaust victims to light.
Upon her entrance to the PhD program, Amanda received the Provost Doctoral Entrance Award for Women. As a PhD student, Amanda studies German Holocaust memory and education during the Cold War. She is interested in memorialization, commemoration, gendered memory, memoirs, and digital history. Her broader interests include modern German history, Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, Second World War history, Cold War history, and Public History.