Oksana Zabuzhko at the XXVI German Congress for Philosophy

Sunday, September 22, 2024

18:30–19:30: Apologia for Evil: Towards the End of One Utopia ~ Oksana Zabuzhko (Kyiv)

After the Ceremonial Opening of the XXVI German Congress for Philosophy, Oksana Zabuzhko, a PhD in philosophy and outspoken feminist, is widely regarded as the most prominent and internationally renowned Ukrainian writer of today, will held a talk on “Apologia for Evil: Towards the End of One Utopia”. Her early magnum opus, Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex (1996), has been translated into more languages than any other prose work from Ukraine. It became the first bestseller of independent Ukraine, with a German translation published in 2006 and an English version in 2011.

Born in 1960 in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk to parents deemed “politically suspect” by the KGB, Zabuzhko was initially denied admission to university in Kyiv. However, in 1987, she successfully completed her PhD in Kyiv with a dissertation titled *The Aesthetic Nature of Poetry as an Art Form*. During the 1990s, she held visiting professorships at Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Harvard University. From 1995 to 2010, she served as Vice President of the Ukrainian PEN Center.

In 2023, the BBC included Oksana Zabuzhko among the “100 Most Inspiring and Influential Women in the World,” alongside figures such as Michelle Obama. In 2024, she was selected as one of the seven members of the International Jury at the Berlinale.

2023 she also was at the Center on the Conference Voices from Ukraine. Oksana Zabuzhko delivered the keynote of the conference Voices from Ukraine: Women Philosophers and Scientists on War and Ecocide on her latest “The Longest Journey”. You can watch the full talk on our YouTube Channel.

One of the main points made in the talk was that the rise of Vladimir Putin was by no means historically unprecedented. The language and politics of appeasement that could witnessed in relation to his foreign policy would remind the historically informed observer of the rise of dictators of the 20th century. “We have behind us a whole century of mass madness. What have we learned from it if we do not recognize history repeating itself in a new guise?” Oksana Zabuzhko asked, hinting at the active effort of ignoring the threat that Russia increasingly posed under Putin’s consolidation of power.

Against the European (and Hegelian) distinction of nations with and without a proper history, Oksana Zabuzhko elaborated on the cultural history of the Ukraine, reminding the audience of how central impulses of education and learning were rooted in Kiev, and how the conflict between Ukraine and Poland had shaped European history.

The two conferences on “Voices from Ukraine” in 2022 and 2023, organized as collaborative efforts between Prof. Dr. Kateryna Karpenko (Kharkiv National Medical University) and Prof. Dr. Ruth E. Hagengruber (University of Paderborn), focus on the impact of war on women philosophers, scientists, and the environment, with a special emphasis on the situation in Ukraine. Further information about our two Conferences can be found here.