These are tips I wrote for my students on how to read theory in a humanities/interdisciplinary context. Sharing them because twitter constraints help me be concise, and because I want students to read theory with more confidence and less self-sabotage. Here goes. (1/?)

Theory is an effort by writers to make sense of phenomena for which we don’t yet have sufficient language. So, reading theory can feel difficult, and the writing can seem unnecessarily complicated. It's helpful to think about why and how we read theory. Here are some tips. (2/?)

1. Be easy on yourself. You will feel lost often. Grasping theory is an iterative process, which means ideas get stated over and over in different ways. Ideas evolve within an essay and from one essay to the next. Like all writers, theorist improve over time. Stick with it.

2. Theory is a poetic process and an imaginative endeavor. Style and language matter to theorists in a way that it might not to a scholar whose goal is to transmit data or information. Clarity isn’t always better because it often simplifies things that need to be complex.

3. Reading closely and actively is more important than reading completely. When time and energy are tight, you can get more out of taking your time with five pages than getting through 50. Make the most of what you can read.

4. Reading actively incl: marking passages that are confusing or clear; writing notes in margins; establishing a practice of jumping around pages for footnotes and rereading; capturing questions as they cross your mind; and writing (in complete sentences) about the reading.

5. Theory is a cumulative project. This means that language we have now didn’t exist when the authors were writing, and many of these authors gave us the language we have now. It also means that theory is a conversation, not a singular thesis: ideas move and change.

6. Find and follow pleasure where you can. Some ideas will blow your mind, so track down those conversations and read more about those ideas. You won't connect with all theory, but pay attention to your gut when you do connect. You'll write better about stuff you like.

This is it for now (more is not better lol) but I'll add stuff if I think of it. I have another doc for "using theory" that is about citational practices and interpretation. That's more boring, but it's a whole separate thing, isn't it. Looking forward to being dragged, goodbye.

Oh, if you're going to cite me, my name is Roy Pérez and I'm a homosexual.

also I am aware of a number of grammatical errors in this thread and invite you to shame me

i am very surprised that what is basically a chunk of my syllabus took off in this way. thanks for sharing and for the encouraging comments in your RTs.

this has gone so far beyond my academic circle, i feel like i should clarify that this is about cultural studies: critical theory, feminist theory, literary theory, queer of color theory... not, like, theory that determines whether or not a spacecraft will explode.

woke up this morning an remembered this beautiful and useful essay by @kwazana about reading and teaching theory http://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2016/09/13/we-arent-here-to-learn-what-we-know-we-already-know/

my intent in this thread is not to defend theory, it's to defend reading