Construction of the Modern Woman Thinker’s Identity: Valéria Dienes (1879-1987), the Philosopher and Founder of the Art of Movement School and her Contribution to Women’s Emancipation

Abstract

New spaces had opened for women as intellectuals, artists and thinkers in European societies by the first decades of the 20th century. Women became involved in social modernization. The earlier endeavours of women, both as individuals and as members of organizations, contributed to structural changes and new laws regulating their possible intervention in public life. One of the most significant changes concerned education. Women and young girls could attend secondary school and higher education. The personal history of philosopher Valéria Dines, a multi-faceted intellectual of her time, serves as a unique example of a modern woman thinker. Her work was embodied in the activities and network of progressive thinkers of that era in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and later in Hungary after World War I.. The paper focuses on two aspects of her oeuvre that were directly connected to women’s emancipation, her writings – both correspondence with feminist activists and her journal entries – and the establishment of the school of orchestrics. The study is based on archival sources and her writings.