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About us

The London Critical Theory Summer School is a major event in the calendar of activities for the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. It was established by Professor Costas Douzinas, founder of BIH and a professor in Birkbeck's Department of Law, in 2010.

Since that time, it has become one of the world's leading summer schools, combining theoretical thought at an advanced critical level with a sense of the political urgency of the times. Now under the directorship of Professor Jacqueline Rose and Professor Esther Leslie, it provides an intensive two-week programme of study for an international group of students and early career academics with acclaimed critical thinkers from around the world.  

We are very grateful to the Open Society Foundations for generously sponsoring the 2026 London Critical Theory Summer School as well as a number of places, which are available for students from OSUN member institutions and beyond. 

"Freedom is the freedom to think otherwise."

Rosa Luxemburg

INTRODUCTION FROM THE CO-DIRECTORS

"The key to our Summer School is that theory is engaged theory, that is, its aim is to show how theory, and the necessity of sustained reflection which it demands and enacts, can contribute to progressive, dissident thought and being in the modern world. In short, at a time when the idea of resistance has become more pressing, the role of critical theory in elaborating a more just future has never felt more necessary."

Jacqueline Rose, Co-Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and Professor of Humanities at Birkbeck.

"Everyday life is full of shocks and hurts, possibilities that open up and those that suddenly close, even if these are unequally distributed. The two weeks of the Summer School provide a certain relief - a time to think deeply, to rage and turn rage into concept, to express and exchange hopes and fears, while learning together and from each other."

Esther Leslie, Co-Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and Professor of Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck.

OUR TUTORS

Our eminent list of tutors have included:

  • Etienne Balibar, Emeritus Professor at Paris X Nanterre, Professor Emeritus of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine and Anniversary Chair of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, London
  • Jaco Barnard-Naudé, Professor of Jurisprudence and Co-Director of the Centre for Rhetoric Studies in the Department of Private Law, University of Cape Town
  • Imani Jacqueline Brown, artist, activist, and architectural researcher of Forensic Architecture, Research Agency at Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Wendy Brown, UC Berkeley
  • Susan Buck-Morss, CUNY Graduate Center, NYC
  • Eduardo Cadava, Philip Mayhew Professor of English, and an Associate Member of the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the School of Architecture, the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies
  • Drucilla Cornell, Professor at Rutgers University in Political Science and a Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Pretoria, South Africa
  • Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York
  • Costas Douzinas, Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Athens, Greece and Professor of Law at Birkbeck, University of London, a founder of the Birkbeck School of Law and the Department of Law of the University of Cyprus, the founding director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London, the President of the Nikos Poulantzas Institute and a former politician
  • Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Paul Gilroy, King's College, London
  • Lewis Gordon, Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut
  • Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Professor of Human Rights and Political Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London
  • David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)
  • Derek Hook, Duquesne University
  • Kojo Koram, Reader in Law at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Esther Leslie, Professor in Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London and Fellow of the British Academy
  • Juliet Jacques, Writer, filmmaker and Visiting Lecturer on the Contemporary Art Practice MA at the Royal College of Arts, London
  • Isaac Julien, Installation artist, filmmaker and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Esther Leslie, Professor in Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Catherine Malabou, Kingston University
  • Achille Mbembe, Research Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at the new Innovation Foundation for Democracy
  • Sisonke Msimang, writer, activist and Fellow of WISER, Wits University, Johannesburg
  • Laura Mulvey, Senior Professor of Film Studies at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Sara Nadal-Melsió, a Queens-based Catalan writer, curator and educator. She was Associate Director of the Whitney Independent Study Program.
  • Sarah Nuttall, Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies and Director from 2012 to 2022 of WISER, University of the Witwatersand, Johannesburg
  • Fumi Okiji, Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley and Professor at the European Graduate School / EGS
  • Jacqueline Rose, Professor of Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
  • Susan Schuppli, Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths as well as affiliate artist-researcher and Board Chair of Forensic Architecture, Research Agency at Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Boaventura de Sousa Santos, University of Coimbra and University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Christina Varvia, Lecturer of Forensic Architecture at the Centre for Research Architecture, at Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Eyal Weizman, Professor of Spatial and Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Forensic Architecture, Research Agency at Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Slavoj Žižek, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities until 2025, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy

Central to its success is the presence of the participants from various parts of the world. Students joining the 2025 Summer School came from over 35 countries, and across the globe, from Uzbekistan to South Africa, Russia to Brazil, Nepal to Peru, Palestine, Kazakhstan, Columbia and India, Jordan, Myanmar and South Korea to Canada.

Tribute to Drucilla Cornell

In honour of Drucilla Cornell, founder and core faculty of the London Critical Theory Summer School over many years, whose thinking, commitment and activism will continue to inspire and to teach us, we are happy to share this tribute from Roger Berkowitz at the Hannah Arendt Centre at Bard College, NY.

Drucilla Cornell died on Monday, Dec 12, 2022. Drucilla was one of the most unique and self-possessed people I've met, someone who could laugh and cry unapologetically, often in quick succession. Her friends whom she collected and loved included academics, trainers, and people she encountered daily in shops and on the street. Those who knew Drucilla miss her; we all are richer for her work. Read the full tribute.