Can we think, act, and become otherwise in order to flourish in the present? Can doing so be purposeful—the result of conscious, deliberate, and sustained intention, individual and collective? Can we know our own possibilities and limitations?

With the Can Assembly, the Critical Antiquities Network (CAN) seeks to answer these questions affirmatively in concert with others. We do so guided by critical theories and ancient world studies—Greek and Roman, yes, but Mayan, Aboriginal, Chinese, and other traditions, too. The Critical Antiquities agenda is pursued through an ever-refinable idea of critical praxis (i.e., transformative action) that seeks to overcome what inhibits human flourishing and affirm what conduces to it. Critical praxis so understood is enhanced when it comes into dialogue with the thought and practice of alternative worlds. That is because, from that standpoint, one can grasp what is historically particular about one’s otherwise familiar situation. Moreover, while we also inversely regard the past from the standpoint of the present, we can better judge the value of our own situation and investigate whether alternative presents are realizable and desirable. Critical Antiquities views ancient worlds as examples of such alterity, a view that requires the rigour of ongoing collective and reflexive scholarly practice, not self-serving or easy claims of ancestral continuity and exceptionalism. Rather, in their alterity, antiquities simultaneously serve as standpoints and objects of critical praxis to enliven us to the possibilities and limitations of contemporary life. Our core conviction is that ancient pasts represent an invaluable reservoir for addressing urgent problems at the core of human flourishing.

The Can Assembly instantiates and further seeks social and political activities and encounters that reveal the promise of Critical Antiquities. The “Can Assembly” names what this gathering is about both in substance—bent on disclosing what can be done—and in form—housed within the Critical Antiquities Network. Assembly is an ancient form of gathering for deliberation, strategy formation, identity constitution and disclosure, public appearance, and the enactment of forms of life. Through it we can seed and enliven alternative thoughts and deeds that live and die, grow and wither, according to the demands of the gathering whose own form and content are consequently (self-)determined.

The inaugural Can Assembly will take place on Friday, June 13, 2025 on the theme “Transformative Action in the Face of Debt.” Details and registration can be accessed by clicking the image on this page.

Can assemble. CAN, assemble!