Rada Iveković (born 1945 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

) is a Croatian professor,

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

and writer.

Research

Iveković's research interests include comparative philosophy (

Asian philosophy Eastern philosophy (also called Asian philosophy or Oriental philosophy) includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philoso ...

, particularly Indian, and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

and

feminist philosophy Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. Feminist philosophy involves both reinterpreting philosophical texts and methods in ...

as well as

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

. In particular, the following aspects have been of intellectual inspiration for Iveković's work: contemporary European philosophy,

postmodern philosophy Postmodern philosophy is a philosophy, philosophical movement that arose in the second half of the 20th century as a critical response to assumptions allegedly present in Modernism#Origins, modernist philosophical ideas regarding culture, identit ...

Orientalism In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...

in (Western) philosophy, the feminine in philosophy, issues of

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

und

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

, problems of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, of

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, European

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

issues, and

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Iveković's other interests include:

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, m ...

and

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

and

women writers Women have made significant contributions to literature since the earliest written texts. Women have been at the forefront of textual communication since early civilizations. History Among the first known female writers is Enheduanna; she is al ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, and contemporary French philosophy in particular.

Political positioning

Iveković holds that the inequality of the sexes (Inégalité des sexes) and other alterities,

inequalities Inequality may refer to: * Inequality (mathematics), a relation between two quantities when they are different. * Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups ** Income inequality, an unequal distribution of i ...

exclusion Exclusion may refer to: Legal or regulatory * Exclusion zone, a geographic area in which some sanctioning authority prohibits specific activities * Exclusion Crisis and Exclusion Bill, a 17th-century attempt to ensure a Protestant succession in En ...

s, subordinating

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

s (e.g. through discrimination by

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

, national citizenship,

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

) leads to a fatal partitioning of reason ("Le partage de la raison"). On the war events on the territory of Yugoslavia she takes an explicitly anti-patriarchal, anti-racist and non-nationalist stance. In 1997 Iveković published a study on gender/sex in philosophy, taking issue with

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and p ...

. In 2017, Iveković has signed the

Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku, Декларација о заједничком језику, separator=" / ") was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and He ...

of the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...

.Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language
official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.

Career

Iveković grew up mostly in

and

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, living in Zagreb, from 1963 until leaving Croatia for exile in 1991–1992 in a self-described "protest against nationalism." At Zagreb University, she studied Indology, Philosophy and English Studies (1969) and from 1970 to 1973,

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

where she received her PhD in 1972. From 1975 to 1991–1992, Iveković was a lecturer in the History of Asian Philosophy and Comparative Philosophy at Zagreb University. From 1998 to 2003 she was a professor at Paris VIII. Since 2003 Professor in the Department of Sociology at University Jean Monnet - St. Etienne and after 2004, the Program Director at Collège international de philosophie (Paris).

Selected works in English

*1984: She and Slavenka Drakulić-Illić contributed the piece "Neofeminism, and its six mortal sins" to the 1984 anthology '' Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology'', edited by

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...

. *2004: "COMMENTARY - The Veil in France: Secularism, Nation, Women". ''Economic and Political Weekly''. Vol. 39, 11, 1117–1119. *2005: "Borders and Partitions: Exception as Space and Time" (Abstract for the conference ''Polemos, Stasis ... War, Civil War'', 24–27 June 2005,

National Chiao Tung University National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) was a public research university in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor, it was one of China's leading universities. After the Chinese ...

, Taiwan: Center for Humanities and Social Theory)

*2005: "The Fiction of Gender Constructing the Fiction of Nation: On How Fictions Are Normative, and Norms Produce Exceptions". ''Anthropological Yearbook of European Cultures 2005'' (Gender and Nation in South Eastern Europe), 19–38.

Sources

Most comprehensive CV, until 2004, in English

Research

Political positioning

Career

Selected works in English

Sources

Further reading