By Eva Dias Costa in Signals — 19 Jun 2025

#17. A PhD in Code-Switching for Hostile Space.

The university had a department
no one could find on the map.

Students were sometimes enrolled
by mistake.

The syllabus contained only questions
that had already ruined someone’s life.

Exams were silent
and self-administered.

Those who passed
were sent a certificate printed on edible rice paper,
which they were required to eat
in front of the registrar.

No one remembered what the degree was for,
but rumours said it let you speak fluently
in rooms where truth was unwelcome.