01-Sep-2013, 08:46 AM
The references and text below are archived from a Nirmukta Facebook thread with edits for clarity and context.
A Postmodernism 101 would be hard to put together, largely because 'postmodernism' seems to be a post-hoc catch-all umbrella term for several amorphous 'Others' groupings that make it a point to defy categorization, rather than a unified school of thought in its own right. What is attempted in the below is a stub for a 101 resource, in two parts : (i) historical context of the emergence of postmodernism (ii) legitimate concerns about misapplication of postmodernist frameworks. Examples will be drawn from recent events and the Indian context wherever possible.
Part 1: Historical context of the emergence of postmodernism
'Postcolonialism' and 'postmodernism' end up being treated as near-synonymous given the near contemporaneity in their emergence and the considerable overlap of their ranks of leading thinkers. One of the most recognizable leading thinkers in this regard is Edward Said.
The subject matter of Postmodernism seems to be cultural expression and standards (or their disappearance) whereas that of Postcolonialism seems to be cultural identities and relations. Hence the centrality of critical theory in Postmodernism and the centrality of subaltern studies in Postcolonialism, and the shared interest of both in multiculturalism.
Postmodernist stirrings can be discerned in the interwar cultural scene itself whereas the political context for anything seriously Postcolonial wouldn't occur until the postwar period. Further, Postmodernism seems first of all a literary and then cultural movement, rather than a school of studying a 'world order' itself as Postcolonialism is.
'Cosmopolitanism' as conceptalized by Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah seems to be a framework that is less limited by historical determinism of sorts and allows a more genuine self-determination in terms of both one's place and voice in the world rather than being defined in terms of exclusions and past oppressions. While East-West categories still provide the terms of reference and framing narratives in Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitanism seems to more fully acknowledge a multipolar world as the stage in which layered identities are assumed. Here are some earlier discussions on how pluralism maybe cherished without lapsing into postmodernist indifference, and how East-West dichotomies continue to persist even as Orientalism has at least formally fallen out of favor.
A useful function of postmodernist critiques is the examination of ethical problems left unaddressed in Enlightenment thought (the thought which lies at the core of the 'modernism' which 'post'modernism is defined chronologically with reference to) for various historical reasons like the Enlightenment's Eurocentrism, its contemporaneity with colonial expansion and its lack of a 'broad base' given the almost exclusively elite origins of its leading thinkers. A better appreciation of how the work of several thinkers considered 'postmodernist' in their orientation, can provide philosophical backing to what is called 'intersectional humanist' mobilization, can be gained via the documentary Examined Life.
A Postmodernism 101 would be hard to put together, largely because 'postmodernism' seems to be a post-hoc catch-all umbrella term for several amorphous 'Others' groupings that make it a point to defy categorization, rather than a unified school of thought in its own right. What is attempted in the below is a stub for a 101 resource, in two parts : (i) historical context of the emergence of postmodernism (ii) legitimate concerns about misapplication of postmodernist frameworks. Examples will be drawn from recent events and the Indian context wherever possible.
Part 1: Historical context of the emergence of postmodernism
'Postcolonialism' and 'postmodernism' end up being treated as near-synonymous given the near contemporaneity in their emergence and the considerable overlap of their ranks of leading thinkers. One of the most recognizable leading thinkers in this regard is Edward Said.
The subject matter of Postmodernism seems to be cultural expression and standards (or their disappearance) whereas that of Postcolonialism seems to be cultural identities and relations. Hence the centrality of critical theory in Postmodernism and the centrality of subaltern studies in Postcolonialism, and the shared interest of both in multiculturalism.
Postmodernist stirrings can be discerned in the interwar cultural scene itself whereas the political context for anything seriously Postcolonial wouldn't occur until the postwar period. Further, Postmodernism seems first of all a literary and then cultural movement, rather than a school of studying a 'world order' itself as Postcolonialism is.
'Cosmopolitanism' as conceptalized by Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah seems to be a framework that is less limited by historical determinism of sorts and allows a more genuine self-determination in terms of both one's place and voice in the world rather than being defined in terms of exclusions and past oppressions. While East-West categories still provide the terms of reference and framing narratives in Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitanism seems to more fully acknowledge a multipolar world as the stage in which layered identities are assumed. Here are some earlier discussions on how pluralism maybe cherished without lapsing into postmodernist indifference, and how East-West dichotomies continue to persist even as Orientalism has at least formally fallen out of favor.
A useful function of postmodernist critiques is the examination of ethical problems left unaddressed in Enlightenment thought (the thought which lies at the core of the 'modernism' which 'post'modernism is defined chronologically with reference to) for various historical reasons like the Enlightenment's Eurocentrism, its contemporaneity with colonial expansion and its lack of a 'broad base' given the almost exclusively elite origins of its leading thinkers. A better appreciation of how the work of several thinkers considered 'postmodernist' in their orientation, can provide philosophical backing to what is called 'intersectional humanist' mobilization, can be gained via the documentary Examined Life.