[lit-ideas] Re: Daughter of a Female Dog

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 2:23 PM, Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> I am preparing myself to start marking papers that I hope have as their
> subject some variation of themes on democracy, civil society, Indonesia and
> Islam.  I don't know where this habit came from, but it seems that academic
> papers written in Indonesia must include lengthy biographies and definitions
> that have no obvious connection to the argument but nevertheless take up a
> lot of space on the page.


Could it be that demonstrating that the writer understands the careers of
the relevant authorities and what they mean by what they say is more
important than the argument per se? This is an ancient pattern in Asia.

John


-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/

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