You’ve so clearly articulated how I feel about theory – it’s uncanny! I especially appreciate your comments on how difficult muddling through theory must be for non-native speakers – I’d not thought of that. Often when I’m (trying to) read theory I think it must be how a non-native speaker feels trying to wade through any English writing – there are words I’ve never seen before and words that I think I know are used in ways that don’t make any sense. That’s one of the main issues I have with much theory – if you feel like you’re ideas are important enough to be understood, then you owe it to both the readers and the idea to communicate it in a way that’s accessible to those you want to read it. Too often it seems like theorists are deliberately obfuscatory, writing in a way that only those in their ‘club’ will understand. There may be a reason for that which I’m simply not getting, but for me it seems clique-ish and elitist. I had to read a lot of theory as part of my PhD, and I eventually decided that if I didn’t understand what the writer was trying to say after making three dedicated attempts to read the first three paragraphs, then it just wasn’t worth my time. Possibly I’m missing out on ideas that would be useful, but there’s so many brilliant ideas communicated in a way that’s accessible and encourages discussion that I think I’ll be ok. 🙂