Introduction to
Postmodernism
Why Reality Isn’t What
It Used to Be
Deconstructing Mrs. Miller
Questions
1.What is postmodernism?
2.Why should we care about it?
3.Have you received a modern or postmodern education?
4.What does postmodernism have to say about your identity?
5.What does postmodernism have to say about truth, beauty, and goodness?
6.How postmodernism is impacting K-12 education, religion, the arts, and our daily lives.
as Timeline
Evolution of Western Thought
Naturalistic
Theocentric
Economic
Humanistic
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Timeline
Modernity
RENAISSANCE TO ABOUT 1900 (+/- 30 years)
Baudrillard:
Early modernity: Renaissance to Industrial Revolution
Modernity: Industrial Revolution
Postmodernity: Period of mass media
The world according to white Anglo-Saxon males from Europe
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Timeline
Your Place in History
14th C 1900 2000
Modern
Modernism
Postmodernism
You are here
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Timeline
Your Place in History
as
14th C 1900 2000
Modern
Modernism
Postmodernism
Your teachers were / are here
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Newtonian Order
Modernity
God, reason and progress
There was a center to the universe.
Progress is based upon knowledge, and man is
capable of discerning objective absolute truths in
science and the arts.
Modernism is linked to capitalism—progressive
economic administration of world
Modernization of 3rd world countries (imposition of
modern Western values)
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
What Is Language?
Language & Truth
as
People are the same everywhere
There are universal laws and truths
Knowledge is objective, independent of culture, gender,
etc.
Language is a man-made tool that refers to real things /
truths
I, the subject, speak language
I have a discernible self
The self is the center of existence
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Purpose of Literature
Liberal Humanism: View of Literature
Good literature is of timeless significance.
The text will reveal constants, universal truths,
about human nature, because human nature
itself is constant and unchanging.
TRADITIONAL WESTERN “MODERN” THINKING
Death of the Old Order
Modernism
Early 1900s:
World War I
Worldwide poverty & exploitation
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Death of the Old Order
Modernism
Early 1900s:
World War I
Worldwide poverty & exploitation
Intellectual upheaval:
Freud: psychoanalysis
Marx: class struggle
Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Neitzsche
Picasso, Stravinsky, Kafka, Proust, Brecht, Joyce, Eliot
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
The Bending of Time & Space
Relativism
Einstein: relativity, quantum mechanics
Refutation of Newtonian science
Time is relative
Matter and energy are one
Light as both particle and wave
E=mc2
Universe is strange
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules
Modernist Art
Cubism
Surrealism
Dadaism
Expressionism
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules
Modernist Art
Cubism
Surrealism
Dadaism
Expressionism
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules
Modernist Art
Cubism
Surrealism
Dadaism
Expressionism
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules
Modernist Art
Cubism
Surrealism
Dadaism
Expressionism
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
A World with No Center
Modernist Literature
“Things fall apart,
The centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
--Yeats, “The Second Coming”
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Breaking the Rules
Modernist Literature
Emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity
Movement away from “objective” third-party
narration
Tendency toward reflexivity and self-consciousness
Obsession with the psychology of self
Rejection of traditional aesthetic theories
Experimentation with language
PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM
Acceptance of a New Age
What is Postmodernism?
Continuation of modernist view
Does not mourn loss of history, self, religion,
center
A term applied to all human sciences —
anthropology, psychology, architecture, history,
etc.
Reaction to modernism; systematic skepticism
Anti-foundational
POSTMODERNISM
Acceptance of a New Age
What is Postmodernism?
The Enlightenment project is dead.
POSTMODERNISM
Culture & Capital
Frederick Jameson
Modernism and postmodernism are cultural formations that accompany
specific stages of capitalism
1. Market capitalism: 18th-19th C.
Steam locomotive Realism
2. Monopoly capitalism: Late 19th C to WWII
Electricity and automobile Modernism
3. Multinational/consumer capitalism
Nuclear and electronics Postmodernism
POSTMODERNISM
The End of Master Narratives
Postmodernism: Basic Concepts
Life just is
Rejection of all master narratives
All “truths” are contingent cultural constructs
Skepticism of progress; anti-technology bias
Sense of fragmentation and decentered self
Multiple conflicting identities
Mass-mediated reality
POSTMODERNISM
The End of Master Narratives
Postmodernism: Basic Concepts
All versions of reality are SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS
Concepts of good and evil
Metaphors for God
Language
The self
Gender
EVERYTHING!
POSTMODERNISM
Language As Social Construct
Postmodernism: Basic Concepts
Language is a social construct that “speaks” & identifies
the subject
Knowledge is contingent, contextual and linked to
POWER
Truth is pluralistic, dependent upon the frame of
reference of the observer
Values are derived from ordinary social practices, which
differ from culture to culture and change with time.
Values are determined by manipulation and domination
POSTMODERNISM
Relativism & Pluralism
Richard Rorty (1931-)
A “pragmatic philosopher”
Anti-foundationalist
No reality independent of our minds
Truth is the result of inter-subjective agreement between
members of a community
We must choose between self-defeating relativism or
solidarity of thought within our group
The goal of the “search for truth” is to help us carry out
practical tasks and create a fairer and more democratic
society
POSTMODERNISM
The Observer is King
Postmodern View of Language
Observer is a participant/part of what is observed
Receiver of message is a component of the message
Information becomes information only when
contextualized
The individual (the subject) is a cultural construct
Consider role of own culture when examining others
All interpretation is conditioned by cultural perspective
and mediated by symbols and practice
POSTMODERNISM
Play and Parody
PostModern Literature
Extreme freedom of form and expression
Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre
Intrusive, self-reflexive author
Parodies of meta-narratives
Deliberate violation of standards of sense and
decency (which are viewed as methods of social
control)
Integration of everyday experience, pop culture
POSTMODERNISM
Fragmented Identities
PostModern Literature
Parody, play, black humor, pastiche
Nonlinear, fragmented narratives
Ambiguities and uncertainties
Conspiracy and paranoia
Ironic detachment
Linguistic innovations
Postcolonial, global-English literature
POSTMODERNISM
Binary Oppositions
Modernity PostModern
History as fact
Written by the victors
Faith in social order
Cultural pluralism
Family as central unit
Alternate families
Authenticity of originals
Hyper-reality (MTV)
Mass consumption
Niches; small group identity
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
A gay Southern Baptist who practices
Buddhist meditation and believes in
the Big Bang theory.
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
Modern or Postmodern?
POSTMODERNISM
An Epochal Shift in Thinking
PostModernism
“The narrative is unravelled, the author is dead, the
Enlightenment project is toast, and history is history.”
“An epochal shift in the basic condition in being.”
--Geoffrey Nunberg
POSTMODERNISM
Battle of World Views
PostModernism
A Global Battle:
THE OBJECTIVISTS vs. THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS
POSTMODERNISM
My Way
PostModernism
OBJECTIVISTS
“When I said during my presidential bid that I
would only bring Christians and Jews into the
government, I hit a firestorm. How dare you
maintain that those who believe in the Judeo-
Christian values are better qualified to govern
America than Hindus and Muslims?' My simple
answer is, `Yes, they are.'”
-from Pat Robertson's "The New World Order"
POSTMODERNISM
Metaphors Kill
PostModernism
People were burned at the
stake for believing there was
more than one version of
reality.
POSTMODERNISM
God is Not Dead
PostModernism
Our public schools have become
a postmodern battleground.
POSTMODERNISM
God is Not Dead
PostModernism
You can be a Christian
(or Buddhist, or Hindu, etc.)
in the postmodern world.
POSTMODERNISM
We Live in the Middle
PostModernism
We all slip and slide between the
objective and constructive views:
1. We live in a world of naïve realism.
2. But when we think about things, or
have to explain our views, we become
constructivists.
POSTMODERNISM
How Popular Culture Changes
as
RAYMOND WILLIAMS
Dominant ideology controls
Human agency: people work
together to bring about change
Takes into account pluralism
of a culture
POSTSTRUCTURALISM
Acceptance of Pluralism
How Popular Culture Changes
Playboy Carrie in
Bunnies “Sex & The
City”
&
Samantha
June in “Sex &
Monica in
Cleaver The City”
“Friends”
Courtney
Love
Celebrating Diversity
PostModernism
THE HOPE OF POSTMODERNISTS:
The deconstruction of foundational views
will lead to a recognition and acceptance
of a pluralistic worldview.
Create a truly global civilization.
POSTMODERNISM
Celebrating Diversity
Literary & FilmTheory
Different constructs of reality
“Lenses” through which we see the world
?
POSTMODERNISM
