April 10–12, 2026

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Keynotes by Michael Denning, Jane Gaines, Achille Mbembe, Toril Moi, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Fredric Jameson (1934–2024) insisted on “imagining a future which might be radically and constitutionally other.” The urgency of this task rested on his understanding of Critical Theory “as a way of keeping the negative alive in a period in which praxis, the unity of the negative and the positive, itself seems suspended.” Over the years, Critical Theory has received scholarly and popular attention; it has simultaneously been pronounced dead and an enduring threat. We invite scholars, including students, to join us at Duke University for a three-day celebration of Fredric Jameson’s enduring legacy—and to keep imagining, with him, the future of Critical Theory.

The conference is organized by Duke's Graduate Program in Literature, where Jameson taught for forty years, and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute.  We acknowledge the generous support of the Holberg Prize Committee, Norway.