The opening of the 2019/2020 academic year was marked by the Honoris Causa ceremony in which Julia Kristeva received this title by the Faculty of Human Sciences (FCH) of Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP).
The ceremony distinguished the emeritus professor of Paris Diderot-Paris University 7 and was presided by the Great Chancellor of UCP, D. Manuel Clemente. Professor Luísa Leal de Faria, full professor at FCH, was Kristeva's sponsor and Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of UCP, delivered the inaugural speech.
Author of more than 30 works, translated into more than 15 languages, Julia Kristeva is one of the most important contemporary intellectuals. Her work on the construction of poetic language was a landmark in the foundation of structuralism and has also stood out in ecumenical dialogue. Kristeva is full member of the Paris Psychoanalysis Society and Doctor Honoris Causa of several universities in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Julia Kristeva is also Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit and first Holberg Prize laureate, in 2004. The intellectual was also honored with the Hannah Arendt Prize in 2006 and the Vaclav Havel Prize in 2008. She founded the Simone Beauvoir for the Liberty of Women in 2008.
Julia Kristeva é ainda Comandante da Legião de Honra, Comandante da Ordem de Mérito e a primeira laureada do Prémio Holberg em 2004. Kristeva foi também honrada com o Prémio Hannah Arendt em 2006 e o Prémio Vaclav Havel em 2008. Fundou em 2008 o Prémio Simone de Beauvoir para a Liberdade das Mulheres.
Read the Laudatio given by sponsor Prof. Dr. Luísa Leal de Faria here.
