Scandals and Scoundrels: Seven Cases That Shook the Academy

291 Pages·2004·1.14 MB·English

by  Ron Robin

Scandals and Scoundrels

Scandals and Scoundrels
Seven Cases That Shook
the Academy
Ron Robin
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2004 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robin, Ron Theodore.
Scandals and scoundrels : seven cases that shook the aca-
demy / Ron Robin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-23578-9 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN
0-520-24249-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Plagiarism. 2. Impostors and imposture. 3. Learning
and scholarship—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title.
PN167.R63 2004
174'.937873—dc22 2003024854
Manufactured in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed on Ecobook 50, containing a minimum 50 percent
postconsumer waste, processed chlorine-free. The balance
contains virgin pulp, including 25 percent Forest Steward-
ship Council Certified for no old-growth tree cutting, pro-
cessed either TCFor ECF. The paper is acid-free and meets
the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992
(R 1997)(Permanence of Paper).
In memory of Gunther Barth, 1925–2004

CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction: Scholarly Scandals:
Why Do They Happen?
1
part i. scandals in history
1. Plagiarism and the Demise of Gatekeepers
31
2. The Noble Lie:
“Arming America” and the Right to Bear Arms
57
3. “A Self of Many Possibilities”:
Joseph Ellis, the Protean Historian
85
part ii. scandals in anthropology
4. The Ghost of Caliban:
Derek Freeman and “the Fateful Hoaxing of
Margaret Mead”
113
5. Violent People and Gentle Savages:
The Yanomami Controversy
138
6. The Willful Suspension of Disbelief:
Rigoberta Menchú and the Making of the
Maya Holocaust
166
part iii. the necessary scandal
7. Science Fiction:
Sokal’s Hoax and the “Linguistic Left”
195
8. What Do the Scandals Mean?
219
Notes
235
Index
267
PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am the confused beneficiary of tectonic shifts in American aca-
demia. The barricades of center and periphery that once margin-
alized scholars from outside the United States have mostly disap-
peared. A new awareness of diverse scholarly practices has
benefited from technological advances offering instant electronic
access to academic journals and intellectual exchanges. Yet, para-
doxically, this expansive intellectual milieu is frustrating. Diver-
sity has accelerated the splintering of the academic community
into subgroups with little meaningful interaction or rapport.
Moreover, accessibility has inundated intellectual precincts to
such a degree that it has increased the invisibility of outsiders and
newcomers.1
Diversity and improved access have also induced epistemolog-
ical confusion. An expansive public space has, indeed, encouraged
a refreshing airing of the mores and standards of the academic en-
terprise. At the same time, both the technical and the philosoph-
ical extensions of scholarly communication have increased disso-
ix