the Center for Transcultural Studies
In memoriam Ackbar Abbas
Professor Ackbar Abbas (b. 1942, Hong Kong) died peacefully in Beijing on 13 July 2026 after a brief period of illness. He is survived by his dear wife Sola, his children and grandchildren. Ackbar will be remembered as a loving husband, a doting father, a devoted colleague, a special friend, and an inspiration to countless students and readers of his work over many distinguished years at Hong Kong University and the University of California, Irvine. A great thinker of fascination, connoisseur of the fake, master of the paradoxical turn — one of a kind. Ackbar was closely associated with the CTS for more than three decades and served on its Board of Directors for several years. He will be deeply missed.
Recent events
Institutions in Motion: Democracy Between Social Struggle and the State
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, June 29 - July 4, 2026
Workshop on Media Studies and the Question of Agency
June 25-26, 2026, the University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris, Paris, France
Participants
Michelle Cho (University of Toronto)
Sasha Crawford-Holland (Vanderbilt University)
Eleanor Ford (University of California, Berkeley)
Bishnu Ghosh (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Christine Goding-Doty (New School)
Cassandra Guan (University of Chicago)
Thomas Lamarre (University of Chicago)
Jinying Li (Brown University)
Ani Maitra (Colgate University)
Rahul Mukerjee (University of Pennsylvania)
Joshua Neves (Concordia University)
Thomas Pringle (University of Southern California)
Juan Llamas Rodriguez (University of Pennsylvania)
Bashkar Sarkar (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Joel Sutherland (University of Chicago)
Xavier Xiao (Concordia University)
Zach Yost (University of Chicago)
Featured Projects
Questioning the Present
The Questioning the Present project was launched in 2020 as a response to the contemporary political, economic, and social conditions in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
Democratic Agendas Network
In 2017, the CTS launched a new network-building project titled Democratic Agendas Network as a framework for integrating projects and dialogues related to the career of democracy and its futures.
Summer School
This program at the Central European University is co-funded by the Open Society Foundations, the Center for Transcultural Studies, the Center for Global Culture and Communication, and the Buffett Institute of Global Affairs (Northwestern University, Evanston, USA).
Publications
Public Works
Public Works is the CTS's international publications project. It includes the contemporary paperback series Public Planet Books (a collaboration with Duke University Press) and CTS-sponsored books. Benjamin Lee is Public Works' executive director.
Working Papers
Dig into the CTS’s intellectual history by checking out the working papers that CTS-affiliated scholars wrote between 1986 and 1992.