Social Text covers a broad spectrum of social and cultural phenomena,
applying the latest interpretive methods to the world at large. A daring and
controversial leader in the field of cultural studies, the journal consistently
focuses attention on questions of gender, sexuality, race, and the environment,
publishing key works by the most influential social and cultural theorists. As
a journal at the forefront of cultural theory, Social Text seeks provocative interviews and
challenging articles from emerging critical voices. Each issue breaks new
ground in the debates about postcolonialism, postmodernism, and popular culture.
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In 1996, the academic journal Social Text was hoaxed by an academic physicist, Alan Sokal, who
submitted a deliberately absurd, ridiculous and partly unintelligible article -
but laced with “Right On” references. A pre-Twitter furore and debate ensued.
In connection with something I am writing now, I wanted to check what happened to
Social Text. Well, surprisingly, it
didn’t fold and above I quote from its initial self-presentation on its current
website page.
I found myself thinking, What would a tutor say if this little bit of text
was submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for a course in Writing
Publicity Blurbs? Would the tutor wonder, Does this student want to fail the
course? Or would they confine themselves to a Comment, Too many adjectives? Or Well, I suppose at least you avoided the ultimate cliché, "cutting edge".
The idea of reading and interpreting the “world at large” as
if it was a literary text is not absurd and has a long pedigree, starting I
suppose with the idea of the “Open Book of the World”. So we are already into centuries
of effort. But in post-modernist / post-structuralist or simply low-grade
academic writing, the genre has been much abused. You can try to get away with
anything and you will probably be applauded if you provide enough Right On
signalling.
The really idiotic part of this PR blurb is in the last
sentence in which the breaking of new ground is confidently programmed according to the requirements of a
publishing schedule. Oh vanity! I thought that intellectual discoveries came
along at ten or twenty year intervals and that then three came along all at
once. But, no, your Subscription to Social
Text will guarantee Order.
