Postmodernist Perceptions of Islam: Observing the Observer

Abstract

We are living in times of change; structures that have held for half a century are being pulled down. Changing, too, are concepts both of the self and of the other, although the nature and depth of these are debatable. A perception that we may be entering a distinct phase of human history, tentatively called postmodernism, is forming. The contemporary formulation of postmodernism as a distinct phase succeeding modernism is rooted in, and explained by the recent history of the West, broadly defined as Europe and the United States. For the West, much of the last half-century has been a period of prosperity and tranquility unmatched in history. It is characterized by a strong and widening economic base, unassailable democracy, and increasing sense of possibilities. Plague, starvation, and war seem features of a distant, almost medieval past. To understand the postmodernist age is to presuppose a questioning of modernity; it is to turn toward a spirit of pluralism, increased assertiveness of local or folk identity; it involves exposure to a plethora of discourses and the consequent dangers of culture schizophrenia, a heightened skepticism of traditional orthodoxies, and finally a rejection of looking at the world as a universal totality, of final solutions and complete answers. Postmodernism is to look for the richness of meaning rather than clarity of meaning, to avoid choices between black and white, to evoke many levels of meaning and combinations of focus. It is an enigmatic and troubling