Sokal Hoaxing Grievance Studies: Boghossian & Co. Strike Back

Absolutely nothing about this surprises me.

Editor’s note: For the past year scholars James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian have sent fake papers to various academic journals which they describe as specialising in activism or “grievance studies.” Their stated mission has been to expose how easy it is to get “absurdities and morally fashionable political ideas published as legitimate academic research.”To date, their project has been successful: seven papers have passed through peer review and have been published, including a 3000 word excerpt of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, rewritten in the language of Intersectionality theory and published in the Gender Studies journal Affilia.

Nathan Cofnas writes:

The flagship feminist philosophy journal, Hypatia, accepted a paper (not yet published online) arguing that social justice advocates should be allowed to make fun of others, but no one should be permitted to make fun of them. The same journal invited resubmission of a paper arguing that “privileged students shouldn’t be allowed to speak in class at all and should just listen and learn in silence,” and that they would benefit from “experiential reparations” that include “sitting on the floor, wearing chains, or intentionally being spoken over.” The reviewers complained that this hoax paper took an overly compassionate stance toward the “privileged” students who would be subjected to this humiliation, and recommended that they be subjected to harsher treatment.

God bless Boghossian, Pluckrose, and Lindsay. And, after the Tuvel affair, should anything about Hypatia surprise us?

   Of course Daft Studies does have an answer to this if they are willing to bite a very large-caliber bullet: they can say that the papers are actually good. This is easier for such folk, as they're likely to subscribe to some version of the death-of-the-author thesis. There are also obvious responses...and, honestly, Daft Studies should just admit that they're whipped, and try to learn from this. Just sayin'.

   OTOH, a parody can probably be written of anything in the humanities (and most of the social sciences). But that kind of argument should be handled with care...which I can't do at this hour.