Postmodernism: Myths and Realities
A number of theorists and scholars have proclaimed that we now live in a postmodern world--a world better explained by theories and concepts different from those of the modern world dating from the Enlightenment and before. The theories and concepts of postmodernism are widely and prominently applied in adult education. So, how do postmodernists characterize postmodernism? What are the critics' critiques? Do proponents and critics agree on anything?
Characterizing Postmodernism
Discussing postmodernism and continuing education, Leicester (2000) writes that "postmodernism is not a systematic theory or unified movement so much as a loose umbrella term for a perspective" incorporating reactions against "the sovereignty of science, the dominance of 'western traditions' and the assumption of epistemological progress" (p. 73). However, some key features "overlap and criss-cross, appear and disappear in discussions about 'postmodernism' (ibid., p. 74):
•Plurality of Perspectives. Multiple perspectives, accounts, and theories are respected. Eclectic thinking, drawing on and synthesizing multiple cultural traditions is encouraged.
•Antiessentialism. A text (be it an individual word, a message, a concept, or any significant structure) has no inherent, essential meaning--no "one thing in common that makes us use the same word and which would give us the essence of the concept" (ibid., p. 74); rather, it is open to multiple interpretations.
•Antifoundationalism. Truth and knowledge of it are not based on a fixed foundation of objective reality. Instead, truths are located in specific sociocultural contexts, outside of which no vantage point exists.
•Antiscientism. In particu...
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...The Postmodern Perspective on Home Economics History." Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 92, no. 1 (2000): 81-84.
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... against Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace to pay for the clean-up effort in the Woburn area which totaled to $69 million. Close to losing his sanity, Schlictmann ran away and attempted suicide.
Macey, David. “Postmodernity.” The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory. London: Penguin Books, 2001. 307-309. Print.
From this week's reading assignments, I gathered quite a bit of knowledge in the postmodernist features. In retrospect, I was a bit confused on all the features and point of views with postmodernism vs. postmodernist. The two readings being of Barthelme's "The School" and "The Lady With Dog", by Chekhov. These two works were odd and similar. I identified a feature that I thought would work best for "The School", "There is no such thing as truth." I chose this feature because after all the death these students encountered, in the end the teacher had no real conclusion on where all the deceased had gone. The students feared this conclusion and came up with various "alternate endings" for those that had passed.
Postmodernism can be defined as a rejection of the idea that there are certain unequivocal truths or grand narratives (such as capitalism, faith or science) and as a belief that there are multiple ways of understanding anything, whether it be it culture, philosophy, art, literature, films, etc, or even television... Television reflects the mass-produced society we live in and certain shows exhibit many of the archetypes of postmodernism that have become prevalent in other art forms. Postmodernism can be useful for understanding contemporary television it can help us to relate to the ever-changing world we live in. Television shows like ABC’s Lost (ABC, 2004-2010) dabble in matters of intertextuality, questioning of grand narratives and, amongst others, a manipulation of time through use of flashbacks, flash-forwards and, uniquely to Lost, the flash-sideways.
“The Red Convertible” is one example of literature that gives realistic examples of the impacts war can have on an individual. Not only is Henry Lamartine impacted by actually going to war and being captured, but the narrator and brother to Henry, Lyman Lamartine also faces challenges. Louise Erdrich
Post modernism is a very difficult concept to define. A French philosopher once defined post modernism as an "incredulity toward all meta narratives," which basically means a skeptical attitude toward all claims of absolute truth. Post modern writers use elements and techniques that provoke the reader to question their reading experience and scrutinize their own personal understanding of life and the values of their society. There are excellent examples of post modern writers using elements of post modern writing, such as irony, magic realism and fragmentation in the short stories read in Ms. Reynolds's English 4U class. The use of post modern elements in these short stories forces the reader to further their reading experience by going more in depth into the writing and figuring out how the story is significant to them and their view on the world.
Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil.
Hiemstra, R., & Sisco, B. (1990). Moving from pedagogy to andragogy. Foundations of Adult Education: Critical and Contemporary Issues, Retrieved from http://www-distance.syr.edu/literature.html
Postmodernism first appeared around the 1980’s, following a hectic and messy period of time. The postmodernist theory that defines a new era describing the world as society is fragmenting, while authority is de-centering, and real truth does not exist; there are only representations of it. Believers of the postmodernist theory, believe that postmodernism is a mixture of present, past, and future, more specifically, the cultural and spatial elements of these different times (Lemert, 2010). The postmodern age is considered the information age, or even, the technological age. Both of these are evident through the changes that have occurred within the typical marriage and family. One of the main emphases of postmodernism is that no real truth exists, demonstrating the grand narrative. The grand narrative states that the “truth” is invented for the sole purpose of selling things. This is clearly shown, in a different manner, in marriages and families in today’s society. No real truth being in existence creates change in the typical marriage and family.
Skylar, Stephanie. “10 Key characteristics of Postmodernism.” Allvoices. N.p., 25 April. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.< http://allvoices.com/contributed-news/8892593-10-key-characteristics-of-postmodernism
Postmodernism, on the other hand, aspires to reflect the critical. Critical knowledge is a process, rather than product. Absolute knowledge is unattainable, conditional, and provisional at best. Any unequivocal sense of the real is rendered superfluous. Truth, therefore, remains elusive, relativistic, partial, and always incomplete; it cannot be learned in totality. "Truth itself is a contingent affair and assumes a different shape in the light of differing local urgencies and convictions associated with them" (Fish 207). Critical knowledge has no choice but to exercise complicity with the cultural historical context in which it is hopelessly mired. As Lee Patterson states, "Even scholars who are dealing with chronologically and geographically distant materials are in fact examining a cultural matrix within which they themselves stand, and the understandings at which they arrive are influenced not simply by contemporary interests but by the shaping past that they are engaged in recovering" (259).
“SCIENCE HAS BOMBS, and humanities have Britney Spears” (Kershner as cited in Purvis, 2004). This amusing comment, made during a professorial debate concerning which discipline was superior, epitomises the divide that exists between the humanities and sciences. Although the debate has its roots in the Industrial Revolution, in more recent times it was signalled by Snow’s (1959; 1964) discussion outlining the dysfunctional gulf that exists between the cultures. Essentially Snow was critical of the breakdown of communication and understanding between the worlds of the humanities and sciences and blamed this for many of society’s unresolved problems. He was particularly critical of the literary intellectuals: “This loss is leading us to interpret the past wrongly, to misjudge the present, and to deny our hopes of the future. It is making it difficult or impossible for us to take good action.” (Snow, 1964, p.60) In the years that followed there has been considerable discussion and debate about the issue and consequent discussions about the value of the sciences and humanities for society’s wellbeing. For example, Leavis (Leavis & Yudkin, 1963) criticised the notion of a chasm and, in a vitriolic manner, suggested that Snow was simply a public relations ‘stooge’ for the sciences. The argument was deepened by a pseudoscientific hoax paper published in a post-modern cultural studies journal by Sokal (1996a, 1996b), a mathematical physicist, who demonstrated that there was an acceptance of a lack of rigour in published humanities work. There was a furore over this hoax and counter arguments and rebuttals engaged many academics in a bitter dispute, but unsurprisingly an examination of this literature reveals that the protagonists talked ...
Postmodernism is a style of art that first became popular in the late 20th century. When seeing the word postmodernism, it might have to do with any one medium of art-- literature, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. Lyotard, a founder of postmodernism in philosophy, is quoted as saying, “Simplifying to the extreme, I define the postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By saying this, Lyotard simply meant that, as a postmodernist, he was against the ways of thinking of modernists and wanted to see something new philosophically and artistically. Postmodernity demonstrates a departure from the art style modernism.
Jameson, Frederic (1993): Postmodernism. in: Docherty, Thomas. (ed.) Postmodernism a Reader. Cambridge: Harvester Wheatsheaf. pp.70-71
Jameson's analysis of postmodernism (you will find a synopsis below) synthesizes two articles: his original "Postmodernism and Consumer Society" (1983) and "Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of late Capitalism" (1984), the same title as his monumental book on the topic. In these works, Jameson expands his analysis to include popular culture, architecture, theory, and other texts, and thus can be seen as part of a movement toward cultural studies as a replacement for canonical literary studies. In the version included here, Jameson links current intellectual, social, and spatial disorientation to the technological reinvigoration of capitalism and globalization. He considers present arrangements with critical rationality and calls for a demystifying political aesthetic of "cognitive mapping" (Gray and McGuigan, 1997, pp. 176-77).