Extending beyond the postmodern, boundary 2 approaches problems of literature and culture from a number of politically, historically, and theoretically informed perspectives. boundary 2 remains committed to understanding the present and approaching the study of culture and politics (national and international) through literature, philosophy, and the human sciences.

Duke University Press publishes approximately one hundred books per year and thirty journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, though it does also publish two journals of advanced mathematics and a few publications for primarily professional audiences (e.g., in law or medicine). The relative magnitude of the journals program within the Press is unique among American university presses. In recent years, it has developed its strongest reputation in the broad and interdisciplinary area of "theory and history of cultural production," and is known in general as a publisher willing to take chances with nontraditional and interdisciplinary publications, both books and journals.