Cardiff School of English Communication and Philosophy

Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory (CCCT)

Director of Postgraduate Research: Professor Radhika Mohanram

Please click here to visit the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory.

Situated in the Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy and with strong links to the Cardiff Humanities Research Institute, the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory (CCCT) is embedded within a rich and vibrant research environment offering excellent opportunities for both discipline based and interdisciplinary research. Many members of the Centre are also members of the English Literature Research Group, and there is regular dialogue with the School’s Philosophy Group, particularly those working in the area of Continental Philosophy.

The Centre has a long and distinguished history as a field-leader. It was established in 1989 to create an institutional space for teaching and research in the (then) new field of theory. The first of its kind in the UK, and indeed one of the first anywhere in the world, the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory quickly built a strong international reputation for research into the work of Louis Althusser, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan, among many other key names. The centre’s founding members wrote pioneering works – e.g. Catherine Belsey (1980) Critical Practice, Terence Hawkes (1977) Structuralism and Semiotics, Christopher Norris (1982) Deconstruction: Theory and Practice and Chris Weedon (1987) Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory – that contributed significantly to the establishment of the field of theory as an area of teaching and research in the contemporary university and still today function as standard points of reference for scholars and students.

The Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory’s main fields of research include:

Critical theory: Deconstruction, Deleuze Studies, Poststructuralism
Cultural history
Film and media studies
Gender and sexuality
Postcolonialism, nation and culture, collective memory
Posthumanism
Postmodernism

In addition, individual projects exist in law and literature and music and culture.

Members of CCCT are involved in interdisciplinary networks on ‘Crime Narratives in Context’ and ‘Wales-Ireland’. They also participate in activities in the School’s Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research.

Members of the Centre edited a number of journals and book series:

Journals and Book Series

Postgraduate Research Students and Visiting Scholars

The School offers two Postgraduate courses in this field:

The School very much welcomes applicants from students from outside the United Kingdom. More information is provided on the School’s international page.

The Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory has a number of Erasmus exchange programs in place supporting both staff and students.

Cardiff Humanities Research Institute (CHRI)

The Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory maintains an active affiliation with Cardiff Humanities Research Institute, which is a founding member of the Consortium of Institutes of Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Cardiff Humanities Research Institute (CHRI)