High theory tempted cultural critics into derivative ventriloquism of foreign thought

Evidence

At a certain point, round about the point where the cultural terrain went into high theory, I was nearly lost in a species of ventriloquism, and I suddenly saw through this at the point where people kept making French puns in English. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1067

Categorization

• XREF: This self-critique of importing French high theory wholesale resonates with criticisms of applying Western theory uncritically to Islamophobia analysis — a methodological caution relevant to the reader’s downstream work.