International Summer School in Critical Theory 2026. Forces of History
July 6 - 10, 2026
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Call for Applications
Instructors
FAQ
Outside Berlin Universities Application & PhD students
Berlin Universities Application
Call for applications
Call for Applications
That “human beings make their own history” is a truism. Unfortunately, as we know from the famous opening page of Marx’s 18th Brumaire, a “but” has to qualify the simple proposition. Human beings do not make history under self-selected circumstances. Although human beings made some of these circumstances in the past (traditions, institutions, technologies), others are not a direct outcome of their agency – natural processes, geographies, planetary boundaries. Some directly materialize as structures in the world; others are conceptually mediated. They all condition human agency and thus the way history is made.
While the idea that human beings make history in the singular has been criticized for a long time for the Eurocentric, racist and colonial tendencies characterizing many of its presumably universal articulations, it has more recently come under pressure in different ways. From an environmental or even planetary perspective, trust in the power and independence of human agency seems misplaced. To conceptualize history today from a materialist perspective requires to acknowledge planetary limits and imminent ecological disasters in ways that seem to require a reformulation of Marx’s proposition.
In the Summer School, we therefore aim to explore anew the scope and nature of historical agency in the face of the forces of history that exceed that agency. We will focus on ecological and other forces of history and ask: What are their consequences for our understanding of history and emancipation? Does the acknowledgment of non-human forces in history entail the splintering of history into a plurality of histories? And how does the planetary reframing of history affect the relation of subaltern histories to the idea of universal history?
The summer school will involve plenary and reading group discussions as well as a public panel debate. We will learn how critical theories in the past conceptualized the role of external forces of history and delve into current debates with Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lillian Cicerchia, Maeve Cooke, Massimiliano Tomba, and Alyssa Battistoni.
To apply for participation, graduate students and junior scholars are invited to submit a précis of their take on core issues in the debate on forces of history and a CV (max. 1 page per document). The précis should show which particular background knowledge and systematic positions the applicants would contribute to our joint discussions. Please submit your application in a single PDF document and make sure that the title of your précis summarizes its content.
Deadline for applications: January 7th, 2026
M.A. students at the Berlin Universities may apply until April 20th, 2026.
Please apply by using the form below.
Participation in the Summer School is free of charge. A limited amount of travel funding is available for international students from the Global South who do not have access to institutional reimbursement. Participants are responsible for independently organizing their travel and accommodation.
Organized by Rahel Jaeggi, Robin Celikates, Christian Schmidt, Zveta Pauly (Centre for Social Critique Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Alice Crary (The New School for Social Research)
Instructors Dipesh Chakrabarty (University of Chicago)
Lillian Cicerchia (University of Amsterdam)
Maeve Cooke (University College Dublin)
Massimiliano Tomba (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Alyssa Battistoni (Barnard College)
and
Rahel Jaeggi (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Robin Celikates (Freie Universität Berlin)
Christian Schmidt (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
FAQ How do I submit my application?
Please send your application via the form below and upload your C.V. and précis as a single pdf. The general deadline for applications is the 7th of January 2026. Only graduate students at the Berlin Universities may apply until the 20th of April 2026.
Why is there an extra deadline for students at the Berlin Universities?
Students at the Berlin-Brandenburg Universities can receive credit for participating. The later deadline for these students allows them to apply when their general course-choices for the summer is due. Therefore, those applicants who study at a University in Berlin or Brandenburg may submit their application until the 20th of April 2026.
The Call for Participation is targeted at PhD students and junior scholars. Can I apply as an M.A. student or as a Post-doc?
Yes, as an M.A. student or as a more senior scholar you may apply as well.
May I submit my application in German?
No, please submit your précis and your C.V. in English.
May I submit a chapter of my book or my dissertation?
No. Please send us only a précis of max. 1 page, describing your take on core concerns on the summer school topic: Forces of History. The précis should show which particular background knowledge and systematic positions you would contribute to our joint discussions. Please make sure the title of your précis summarizes its content.
When will I be informed if my application was successful?
We process the applications as quickly as possible and will get back to you by mid-February. Students at the Berlin Universities, who may submit their applications until the 20th of April, will hear from us by the end of April.
How do you select the participants? What are the criteria?
Besides looking for the most interesting and fitting approaches to the Summer School’s central questions, we try to achieve a certain geographical and topical balance, and we give precedence to applications from PhD students and early post-docs over more junior and senior ones. Amongst applications ranked equally, we prefer those scholars who did not attend the Critical Theory Summer School the year before, since it seems fair to give the chance to participate to as many individuals as possible.
Please note that even though we try to make the selection process as transparent as possible, it may happen that although the mentioned criteria apply to you, you are not admitted to the Summer School. This is due to the fact that we receive a lot more applications than we can accept.
Are there any participation fees for the Summer School?
No.
Is there a possibility to get funding for my participation in the Summer School?
A limited amount of travel funding is available for international students from the Global South who do not have access to institutional reimbursement.
Is it possible to get an official certificate of participation? I need one in order to get funding from my university.
Yes, of course. Please send us an e-mail at ctsummerschool@hu-berlin.de.
Do I need a visa to enter Germany? How do I get a visa?
You can find out at the foreign office (https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/visa-service/visabestimmungen-node) if you need a visa and what the requirements are. Please find out as soon as possible and let us know right away if you need an official invitation or confirmation of participation in order to get your visa.
Do you offer accommodation for participants? Can you help me find accommodation in Berlin?
Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to help with that. For free rooms, you may check and contact the Humboldt guesthouse. Generally, please consult the usual online search engines for accommodation.
When will the reading for the Summer School be available?
The literature will be available by the end of May.
Does the program extend to the evenings?
The program is limited to mornings and afternoons, finishing no later than 7 p.m. However, there will be a public round table on the evening of Wednesday, July 8.
When will the Summer School start and end?
The first get-together meeting will be on the evening of Sunday, July 5, and we will finish with a closing party on Friday, July 10. Thus, it will be best to plan arriving on Sunday noon (latest) and to leave not earlier than the following Saturday noon.
Can I participate in only a few sessions, or for half of the week?
In order to enable fruitful discussions, we kindly request participants to attend all sessions.
Are any of the sessions public?
Yes, the evening panel (July 8) is public.
Will there be recordings of the sessions?
No.
Where can I find information on past Summer Schools?
You can find CfPs, programmes, and summaries of the final discussions of each Summer School in our archive (http://criticaltheoryinberlin.de/archive-summer_school/)
If you have any further question:
Do not hesitate to contact us (ctsummerschool@hu-berlin.de). We will reply as soon as possible. Please note that submitting applications is only possible via the form provided below.
Outside Berlin Universities Application & PhD students The application for all non-Berlin students/scholars has been closed on January 8th, 2026.
Berlin Universities Application This form will be available later this year.
