About

The Cultural Studies Association (CSA), founded in 2003, is a non-profit association for scholarly purposes in the field of cultural studies. The goals of CSA are to

  • create and promote an effective community of cultural studies practitioners and scholars,
  • represent the field and its committed practitioners everywhere, and
  • advance cultural studies knowledges, projects, approaches, and methodologies throughout the world.

CSA members come from all over the world. The CSA provides a forum for scholars of cultural studies, in all its diverse manifestations, to exchange their work and ideas across disciplinary lines and institutional locations.

In the spring each year, the Cultural Studies Association holds an international annual conference. As with other professional organizations, the annual conference provides the membership an opportunity to meet and network with other professionals in the discipline, introduce students to the wider professional community, and share and discuss current efforts in cultural studies research and practice.

The Cultural Studies Association publishes its own journal, Lateral, a digital journal and production site designed to foster experimentation and collaboration among cultural studies practitioners and researchers. It is committed to critical studies of culture that advance and extend the reach of cultural studies as a field and method of inquiry and as an intellectual/political project.

The CSA is overseen by a Governing Board (serving three year terms), and a President and Vice President (serving two year terms), all elected by the membership. The Governing Board includes two to three graduate student representatives who serve three year terms. The CSA also has an Executive Committee to ensure the timely transaction of the necessary business in the interim between the annual business meetings. 

Questions about or suggestions for the CSA should be sent to admin@culturalstudiesassociation.org
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Join our mailing list today.

Officers and Administration

Past Presidents

  • Robert Carley, Texas A&M, Immediate Past President (2026-2027)
  • Sean Johnson Andrews, Columbia College Chicago, Past President  (2022-2024)
  • Helen Kapstein,  John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY,  Past President (2020-2022)
  • Toby Miller, University of California, Riverside, Past President (2018–2020) 
  • Paul Smith, George Mason University, Past President (2016–2018)
  • Jaafar Aksikas, Columbia College Chicago, Past President (2014–2016)
  • Bruce Burgett, University of Washington Bothell, Past President (2012–2014)
  • Patricia Clough, City University of New York (2010–2012)
  • Randy Martin, New York University (2008–2010)
  • Sangeeta Ray, University of Maryland (2006–2008)
  • David R. Shumway, Carnegie Mellon University (2004–2006)