Amanda Coate

Amanda Coate is a historian of early modern Europe. In her work, she focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of early modern Britain, France, and German-speaking areas of Central Europe, as well as the connections between these regions. She is particularly interested in the history of hunger and food scarcity, animal-human interactions, medicine and related fields of knowledge, and understandings of the environment and natural world. She received her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in September 2026.

Amanda’s first book project, On Empty Stomachs: Experiences and Meanings of Hunger in Early Modern Europe, examines understandings of hunger and food deprivation in Europe, c. 1550-1700. Approaching hunger as a phenomenon with culturally and historically inflected meanings, she brings together English, French, and German evidence including religious literature, medical texts, news reports, and diaries. She argues that a wide range of early modern people shared a view of hunger as a powerful force that could dramatically alter individuals’ bodies, emotions, and behavior; it also had communal impacts, making it a social issue of great concern. Hunger’s transformative effects rendered it a source of fear and anxiety, but also inspired compassion for the hungry. Moreover, the experience of hunger prompted reflection on other important topics (such as human nature, violence, the causes and effects of disasters, and health and the body), demonstrating its significance to wider debates and discussions taking place in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe.

Amanda’s work has appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Early Science and Medicine (“An Elephant in Dublin: Animals and Knowledge in the Late Seventeenth Century,” December 2025), in the online journal Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, and on the French History Podcast.

Her research has been supported by multiple organizations at Stanford, including the School of Humanities and Sciences, the Europe Center, the Program in History and Philosophy of Science, and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 

Amanda has a range of teaching and mentoring experience. At Stanford, she designed and taught two undergraduate seminars, “Disasters: Environment, Disease, and War in Early Modern Europe” (Spring 2026) and “Cannibalism in Early Modern Europe: The Ultimate Taboo in Historical Context” (Fall 2021). She also served as a TA for three courses (including courses on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine) and as a Writing Fellow for a research seminar. She takes an active interest in pedagogy and completed an Associate level certificate through the Stanford CTL + CIRTL Certificate Program.

Amanda is currently a Review Editor for the online publication Environmental History Now.