Association for Critical Theory (ACT)

The Association for Critical Theory at the CUNY Graduate Center (hereinafter to be referred to by its official acronym: ‘ACT’ and to potentially appear in publications in its official short form: ‘The Association for Critical Theory’ ) is an interdisciplinary scholarly discussion group at the CUNY Graduate Center that invites students and faculty from all departments to share interests, ideas, and information about contemporary scholarship concerning the interdisciplinary concerns of Critical Theory, a diverse tradition wherein the critical analysis of the human experience in all of its aspects, or in particular aspects, is undertaken with an emphasis on a scholarly approach which combines the tools, approaches and insights of the social sciences and the humanities. Our concerns owe much to the work of the ‘Frankfurt School’ tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship, though the current and future state of the field draw from, reflect critically upon, but are limited by that influence. Our primary purposes are to foster an intellectual and social community of scholars that encourages interactions across disciplines and between faculty and students and to further inquiry into human affairs that is, simultaneously, conscious of explanatory, practical and, especially, normative concerns and to maintain an ACT library in ACT office space at the CUNY Graduate Center for the use of our members.