Women and Changes: Women as Subjects of Historical Changes in Croatia

The goal of the project is to foster a scholarly dialogue on the history of women in Croatia from a diachronic perspective. The foundation of this dialogue will be key historical concepts such as the historical subject and historical change.

We begin with two fundamental premises of women's history:
a) Women in Croatia should be studied as historical subjects—that is, as individuals who contributed to, participated in, and experienced historical processes.
b) Historical processes and changes had a direct impact on the status of women and the perception of their role in society.

Building on this foundation, the project's research will seek to determine which historical processes expanded or restricted women's opportunities for action and to define both the conceptual and actual spaces in which women could engage socially across different historical periods. It will examine how women influenced social processes through intellectual, social, and cultural activities and assess the impact of historical changes on women's status and identity in specific periods.

Ultimately, the project aims to write biographies of engaged yet still insufficiently known women from each historical period. These biographies will serve as concrete examples to explore and illustrate the aforementioned theses and ensure that these women are finally inscribed in official history. Given the project's diachronic focus, its methodology and research sources will be adapted to the specific needs of each historical period.

Theoretically, the project will integrate approaches from women's history, intellectual history, social history, cultural history, and literary history. A key reference will be the findings of the HRZZ project Modern Thinking Women. The project will contribute to the development of women's history in Croatia, stimulate dialogue and comparison of theoretical approaches and methodologies across different historical periods, and deepen understanding of broader historical processes in each era. Finally, the scientific findings generated by this research will be readily applicable and useful for various projects aimed at popularizing science.