The article constitutes an attempt to refl ect on the present condition and potential future of Polish studies (and the future of university humanistic studies in general) as seen through a simultaneous reading of the fi fth chapter of John Maxwell Coetzee’s book Elizabeth Costello, entitled Humanities in Africa and two short essays by a French philosopher and sociologist Jean Baudrillard, taken from his book Simulacra and Simulations. The main focus of attention is the threat of de-professionalization of humanistic studies associated with the uncontrolled multiplication of new critical languages, the disappearance of ideological and competence arguments and an uncritical cult of radical inventiveness which is not accompanied by an accumulation of knowledge