Why an Architect Wrote a 52,438-Word Dissertation With No Punctuation

An architect pursuing a doctorate at the University of British Columbia wrote his 149-page, 52,438-word dissertation without any periods or commas.

Patrick Stewart, 61, who belongs to the Nisga’a, a group of indigenous people in British Columbia, told Canada’s National Post that his dissertation, entitled “Indigenous Architecture through Indigenous Knowledge,” was designed to raise awareness about “the blind acceptance of English language conventions in academia” and to make a statement about “aboriginal culture, colonialism.” And he claimed there is “nothing in the (UBC dissertation) rules about formats or punctuation.”

When he defended his punctuation-free dissertation, the examiners accepted it unanimously.

Read an excerpt from the giant run-on sentence on the National Post‘s website.

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