The classical canon of ‘critical theory’ – the early Frankfurt School, Marxist and post-Marxist theories – has led to a tradition of understanding cultural critique solely as a subversive critique directed against Western confidence in progress, normative concepts of the subject and identity formation, the culture industry etc. In studies of migration and culture, this notion of critique has manifested itself as a preference for the so-called ‘spaces in-between’ and a general rejection of all identity and subject constructions. Our own work in this field has made it increasingly clear to us that critical cultural theory and analysis can also be severely hampered by the subversive approach. Today, critical practice must thus entail taking the next step: to develop and discuss alternatives that can open new perspectives. In this spirit, the article accounts for the idea of a postmigrant perspective that aims at overcoming the dichotomy between ‘majority’ and ‘minorities’, and which makes it possible to take a fresh, but still critical, approach to the transformative impact of migration on society. After unpacking the idea of the ‘postmigrant’, the article proceeds to reflect on how a critical cultural analysis that applies a postmigrant perspective can contribute to developing a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of recognition and structural discrimination, thereby revitalising two classical themes in critical theory: suppression and recognition.