2026 Session

In an intensive six-week course of study, faculty members, graduate students and independent scholars from around the world, in the humanities and social sciences, explore recent developments in critical theory. 

Participants work with the SCT’s core faculty of distinguished scholars and theorists in one of three six-week seminars. Each faculty member offers, in addition, a public lecture and a colloquium (based on an original paper) which are attended by the entire group.

The program also includes optional shorter workshops taught by international correspondent Deborah Amos and interdisciplinary artist Carla Liesching. The program begins with a lecture by leading political theorist, Alexander Livingston, along with a 50th anniversary conference organized by distinguished scholars and leader of SCT, and ends with a two-day, participant-led conference.  In addition, Cornell offers participants the resources of one of the great research libraries in the United States.

The 2026 summer session at the School of Criticism and Theory will be held in-person in Ithaca, June 8 - July 16, 2026.

Six-Week Seminars:

Six-Week Seminars

	Jason Frank John L Senior Professor of Government, Cornell University "Democratic Theories of Counterrevolution" Profile
	William Mazzarella Neukom Family Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago "Charisma: Eros/Thanatos" Profile
	Chi-ming Yang Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania "Orientalism/Capitalism" Profile

Optional Workshops:

Optional Workshops

	Deborah Amos  Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence, Princeton University "Human Rights Reporting" Profile
	Carla Liesching  Lecture in Lens-Based Media, Department of Art, Cornell University "Unmaking the Archive" Profile

Opening Lecture:

Opening Lecture 

	Alexander Livingston   Associate Professor of Government,  Cornell University  "Prophetic Witness and the Democratic Imagination" Profile

Six-Week Seminars:

Details Pending 

Workshops: Details Pending 

Fadi Bardawil "The Terms of Violence"

Patrick Jagoda "Practices of Play, Theories of Freedom"

Naveeda Khan "An Aesthetics for the End"

Autumn M. Womack "Black Art/Black Living"

Paul Ramirez Jonas "To Publish is to Make Publics"

Marion Wrenn "Reading like a Writer, Writing like a Scholar: Voice, Audience, and AI"

Click here for the 2025 Brochure

The online application portal will close on the deadline of February 2, 2025.

Learn more and apply for the 2025 Summer Session here.