Fashionable nonsense has been with us since the time that prehistoric man first transcribed Of Grammatology on to the walls of the Lascaux caves. Here we cast an eye back at some historical highlights.


The Yanomamo Controversy *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

A scandal in anthropology is complicated by politics, emotion, prestige – the usual sort of thing.… Read the rest



Washington, Jefferson and slavery. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Washington freed his slaves in his will, Jefferson did not. The reasons of each tell us much about American history.… Read the rest



Urvashi Butalia on ‘honour’ killing. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Women’s groups demand that murderers be treated according to laws of the land and not be allowed to find shelter behind the curtain of ‘culture’. … Read the rest



Science According to the X-Files *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘We are born of primordial slime, not at the hands of a benevolent and concerned supreme being who lovingly crafted us from clay.’… Read the rest



Ni Putes ni Soumises *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘We’re girls, so we’re less-than-nothings, Priscilla, 17, told Le Monde after her friend Sohane’s death.… Read the rest



Lies, Self-Deception and Magical Thinking *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Psychoanalysis was never, despite Freud’s ‘positivist rhetoric,’ a science; it was a ‘purely speculative enterprise,’ argues Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen.… Read the rest



Or Academic Pooh and Postmodern Instincts *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Literary criticism, cultural studies; love letter and satire.… Read the rest



Literature and theory duke it out. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

If Lentricchia and Said have joined, the revenge of the emeriti may not be so regressive after all.… Read the rest



Whither Irony? *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘In the clamorous and bloodstained souk of the world…people still go unrepentantly on looking out for good lives’… Read the rest



Dawkins on Maynard Smith *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘John does know more mathematics, more physics and more engineering than the average biologist. But he also knows more biology than the average biologist.’… Read the rest



Vikram Chandra on the Cult of Authenticity *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Don’t essentialize Indianness, but you’d better get the Real India right.… Read the rest



Derek Freeman or Margaret Mead? *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

One can be controversial and heretical and still be wrong.… Read the rest



Science, Scientism, and Anti-Science in the Age of Preposterism *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

What is the difference between genuine inquiry and the sham and fake variety?… Read the rest



‘Without a theory, you can’t meet the people.’ *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Miller wonders why ‘unavailing Latinate neologisms’ convince so many people that something profound is being said.… Read the rest



Deep, unconscious anti-science bias. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Scientists are humorless nerds, and crop circles and crystals are more fun.… Read the rest



Frank Lentricchia takes it all back. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘When I grew up and became a literary critic, I learned to keep silent about the reading experiences of liberation that I’d enjoyed since childhood.’… Read the rest



A look at Kent Hovind’s dissertation. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

In fact Patriot University seems to have no standards.… Read the rest



Barbara Forrest on The Wedge at Work *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream… Read the rest



Derek Freeman Replies *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Ad hominem denigration doesn’t make the case.… Read the rest



Martin Gardner looks at a Center for nonsense studies. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Dowsing, homeopathy, Tarot cards and their relevance to mental health professions, and, of course, alien abductions.… Read the rest