Introduction

Abstract

This introduction makes an argument for the vitality of critique and theory for Early American Studies and the value of the archive and texts from Early America for critically engaging the present. It demonstrates the specific contributions to historical thinking that derive from critique and have often been marginalized in the study of Early America. It attends to the current configuration of critique in academia, including attempts to diminish its purview in the form of what has been called postcritique. In addition, the introduction surveys the place of critique and theory in the history of Early American Studies in order to excavate a submerged strain of thought in the field that bears on the work in the present volume.