Tzvetan Todorov Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences 2008

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, made up of Mr. Lluis Xabel Álvarez, Mr. Gonzalo Anes, Mr. Raúl Bocanegra, Ms. María Emilia Casas Baamonde, Ms. Adela Cortina, Ms. Mercedes Fernández-Martorell, Mr. Ángel Gabilondo, Mr. José Luis García Delgado, Ms. Josefina Gómez Mendoza, Mr. Manuel Jesús González, Mr. Luis González Seara, Ms. Carmen Iglesias, Mr. Adolfo Menéndez, Mr. Aurelio Menéndez Menéndez, Mr. José Manuel Otero Novas, Ms. Rosa María Rodríguez Magda, Mr. Rafael Puyol, chaired by Mr. Manuel Fraga Iribarne with Mr. Juan Vázquez as secretary, has unanimously decided to bestow the 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences on Tzvetan Todorov.

Bulgarian-born Tzvetan Todorov is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris and has taught widely in Universities worldwide, notably in Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Berkeley among others. His work has been translated into 25 languages.

Todorov is a rigorous theorist of the structuralist movement, which he applied to literature and literary criticism. He gradually evolved towards the cultural analysis and the history of ideas. His intellectual concern, his wisdom and erudition, surpass all frontiers and seek the middle ground, allowing him to study great issues of our time, such as the development of democracies, understanding between cultures, rootlessness, appreciation of others and the impact of violence on collective memory.

Todorov represents the spirit of unity in Europe, between the West and the East, and the commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, integration and justice

Oviedo, 18th June 2008