The Jameson Institute for Critical Theory is the home of the collaborative study of critical theory at Duke.

 

We support the “meta-theoretical” study of connections between cultural, historical, aesthetic, and social research, with a focus on the foundations of the theoretical paradigms that most prominently circulate throughout the humanities and social sciences today—including, but hardly limited to, social and political theory, cultural analysis, aesthetic theory, studies on colonialism and neocolonialism, critical theories of race, the analysis of discourses and ideologies, and the study of intellectual movements and schools of thought. Through lectures, conferences, curricular support, co-sponsorships, and graduate student funding, the Jameson Institute provides the institutional support necessary for faculty and graduate students to, as Professor Jameson put it, “[deepen] our understanding of the conceptual dimensions of work done throughout the university.”

In 2020, the scope of the Institute, then the Institute for Critical Theory, was expanded with the launch of the Critical Theory Workshop (CTW), a speaker series that showcases cutting-edge scholarship across more comprehensive global contexts, historical transformations, and disciplinary registers.