ABSTRACT
IN 1990 I ATTENDED A coNFERENCE TITLED "CuLTURAL STUDIES Now AND in the Future," sponsored by the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and organized by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. During his lecture, Stuart Hall commented critically on the proceedings and warned that cultural studies in the United States is in "a moment of danger." Shortly after he began to take questions, some members of the audience of several hundred erupted in protest, claiming among other things that the conference positioned them as "fans" who were meant to support a star-making (or star-polishing) machinery. Some who were infuriated with the event drafted and distributed a manifesto titled, "Hypocrisy in Cultural Studies," which posed the question: "Is there any point in establishing a radical voice which only duplicates those structures it seeks to displace?"
