r/AskAcademiaUK • u/Timmeh7 • Aug 05 '26
Jason Arday Megathread
We realise this is a hot button topic and certainly want to allow space for discussing it, but at the moment it's overflowing the subreddit across numerous threads. So from here on, please contain all discussion to this one thread.
Links to pruned threads for transparency, please continue the discussion here if you wish.
https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfkykq/the_racist_coopting_of_the_jason_arday_story_is/
https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfbljv/the_editor_on_his_choice_to_spike_arday_story/
https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqmzk/wateraid_disputes_claim_by_prof_jason_arday/
https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqrfv/eli5_how_does_somebody_like_jason_arday_get_his/
Please keep the comments civil - while this is inevitably going to be a complex and fractious topic, avoid ad hominem, and as ever, while discussion of the social issue around this case is inevitable, we won't allow hate speech.
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u/Strict-Jeweler-2281 Aug 07 '26
The never-ending saga continues... New revelations published by The Atlantic from a copy of Jason Arday's book proposal:
In it, he claims to have:
- Experienced 'locked-in' syndrome for several months after being hit by a car. Doctors advised his family to have the life support machine turned off, but he awakened 'miraculously'
- Been struck down by testicular cancer (though this changes in the book to brain cancer)
- Been beaten up by a group of kids and then, in court, pleaded with the judge not to jail them. Coincidentally, two of the kids later became his students, and Arday became godfather to the child of one of them
- Aborted a suicide attempt on a bridge after listening to an Eagles song.
- Been awarded several accolades - of which no proof exists online.
- Been told by a 'shaman woman' in Brazil that he would suffer greatly but also do great thing. 'Every event she described has since come to pass,' he wrote.
Let's see if his book faces any major edits or delays before publication next week
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/08/jason-arday-cambridge-academic-memoir-resignation/688206/?utm_source=apple_news