Academia: A Study

Academic texts are peculiar beasts. They translate phenomena that may be considered banal or commonplace into often inaccessible language saturated with references and nomenclature, rendering the murky waters between questioning and knowing unnavigable even to the most astute of readers. Given the widespread use such an obfuscating tactic, we might assume such practices compulsory for anyone aspiring to a career of the life of the mind. This is not to say, however, that alternative approaches or processes by which interpersonal communication, written or otherwise, is rendered useful or potent in the academy. It is to say that such an orientation toward knowledge we seek to share can be read as both a move away from the principals of liberal democracy and a powerful endorsement of the value of critical thought as the only remaining fertile ground in and upon which we might use the tool of language to plant seeds of inquiry and build a world imagined anew.

In this paper I will…