Dr Bethan L Winter

I am a cultural, social, and international historian of the Cold War. My research explores Cold War international relations with a particular focus on cultural diplomacy, sound studies, and socialism. My doctoral work examined East German cultural and musical diplomacy, analysing how the German Democratic Republic engaged with countries across the East, West, and Global South through music and artistic exchange.

Beyond Cold War diplomacy, I have a strong interest in historical acoustemology—the study of how past societies understood and experienced sound. I seek to integrate this approach with insights from sensory history and the history of emotions, exploring how sound shaped political and social experiences.

I am currently a Mieroszewski Scholar in Warsaw, where my research focuses on East-East relations during the Cold War, continuing to take a pericentric approach to Cold War studies. In addition, I am exploring the intersection of culture and religion under socialism, particularly the paradox in which religion was suppressed even as historic religious artistic expression was cultivated and promoted.