Remarks on Current Trends and Directions in German Women's History

For the benefit of literary scholars curious about recent developments in German women's history, this contribution offers a critical survey of trends in the United States and Germany. Moving beyond its earlier focus on the history of women and feminism, the field now tends to analyze broader topics, i.e., nationalism, as they are inflected by issues of gender. Feminist explorations of the potential of postmodern analysis for the interrogation of historical reality have, however, made few inroads into traditional, mainstream historiography. There have been insightful contributions in, for example, debates about women's status as victims and perpetrators or the situation of women since unification, but xenophobia and antisemitism persist in some German feminist work. (PH)