Postmodern Perspective Research Articles

‘In or Out’ or ‘In‐And‐Out’: The Social Identity Transition of Female Academics During the Perinatal Period

ABSTRACTThe career trajectories of working mothers in academia could be adversely impacted by maternity breaks given the professional demand for consistent research performance. This study employs the postmodernist perspective of identity which addresses social context to unpack in‐depth accounts of female academics' social identity transition throughout their perinatal period (pregnancy till 1‐year post‐birth). We collected 93 critical incidents via interviews from 23 academics who completed their perinatal period between 2019 and 2022. We found the identity transition was more dynamic than linear. This enabled us to develop a multi‐dimensional identity grid matrix to illustrate the varied transitional statuses these mothers encountered as a consequence of the ongoing (re)negotiation between self and social structures (in‐and‐out of salient social identities). Hence, the social identities of academic mothers can be betwixt among multiple identities. The findings can help HR practitioners in forming a more supportive and consensual working culture, thereby and facilitating working mothers' ability to develop positive resources for a better social‐self.

Interactive Storytelling and Digital Narratives in Contemporary Literature: A Postmodern Analysis

This study examines the role of digital narratives and interactive storytelling in contemporary literature, with a focus on a postmodern perspective. As digital technologies evolve, they challenge traditional linear storytelling by introducing innovative forms that integrate interactivity and multimedia elements. In the postmodern literary context, where norms are constantly deconstructed, digital narratives provide a space for both authors and readers to explore new storytelling methods, where the reader's agency is key. Interactive storytelling, as seen in hypertext fiction, digital novels, and online narratives, allows readers to influence the story by making choices that alter its direction and outcome. This shift from passive consumption to active engagement reflects postmodern themes of fragmentation, multiplicity, and subjectivity, which resonate in both digital formats and postmodern thought. By analyzing significant works that merge digital media with narrative structures, this paper explores how interactive storytelling challenges traditional notions of authorship, agency, and meaning. It also investigates how these digital texts subvert conventional narrative forms, providing a more immersive and personalized experience. Ultimately, the study seeks to demonstrate how digital narratives and interactive storytelling not only reflect postmodern ideals but also reshape the future of literary form and reader involvement in an increasingly digital world.

Postmodern Approaches in the Select Plays of Vijay Tendulkar

Vijay Tendulkar’s surgical approach to contemporary life earns him a distinguished place in the realm of Indian English drama. In Tendulkar’s theatre reality is often fragmented, socially constructed and theatrically presented. In his wizardry of theatre Tendulkar focuses on postmodern attitudes, marginalized voices, and contemporary social issues. As a sage of postmodernism, the playwright emphasizes patriarchal issues, gender discrimination, alienation, fragmentation, and the subversion of power-structure in most of his plays. The different plights are deployed as a vantage point for postmodern discourse. The sufferings of marginalized people, communal issues, and gay concerns get dramatized and reflected in postmodern perspective. Social issues, postmodern techniques, and symbols often challenges to conventions in his plays. This research paper examines playwright’s postmodern strategies that subvert power structure, challenge traditional notions, narratives and question the notion of reality. It aims to analyze the various aspects of postmodernism through the fragmentation of reality and identity crisis; social hypocrisy and moral ambiguity; patriarchal issues and gender discrimination; and the subversion of power structure in the select plays of Vijay Tendulkar, especially Silence! The Court is in Session and Sakharam Binder.

Integration of postmodern perspectives in curriculum & instruction in Ethiopian schools

Integration of postmodern perspectives in curriculum & instruction in Ethiopian schools

Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives: Samiha Khrais's The Tree Stump as a Historical Novel

Objectives: This article aims to analyze The Tree Stump (1998; trans. 2019), a modern realist novel by the award-winning Jordanian writer Samiha Khrais, from both a historical-novel and postmodern perspective. Methods: The analysis is conducted against the backdrop of the viewpoints of key theorists of the historical novel, utilizing critical analysis and comparative analysis methods. Results: The results show that Khrais’s novel deploys as its main strategy of representing its historical events the techniques of the traditional/classic historical novel often associated with Walter Scott and his Waverly novels. Although The Tree Stump draws on myth, legend, and local folklore and mixes historical realism and magical realism, its main concern is the historical authenticity and factual accuracy of the events it describes. Conclusions: The Tree Stump contains the main characteristic features of a typical traditional historical novel as defined by the major theorists of historical fiction. It also combines elements of historical realism and magical realism without being impacted by the experimental writings of postmodernism.

The Hyperreality of Political Power: Political Condition of Indonesia During Pandemic in the Postmodern Era

This article discusses Indonesia’s political power regarding policies dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic crisis through a postmodern perspective. Disruption of information as one of the characteristics of postmodernism has shown us that various media can mix all realities. The use of various media has made individuals experience confusion in drawing a real reality. A hyperreal form of meaning replaces the existing reality because it is formed by individual narratives replacing metanarratives. Meanwhile, factual truth has also been replaced by alternative truths that are the favorites of everyone. This study uses a qualitative descriptive analysis method through literature studies, instrumental case studies, and phenomenology. Facts and truth have become biased, saturated into more micro and individual forms, so individuals now have autonomy over their truth. This truth is due to hyperreality, where the sign becomes more real than reality itself. The Indonesian government’s policy regarding this pandemic is a reality that individuals want to abandon or take up. This dynamic form is currently happening in Indonesian society. Regarding the pandemic, the community has its own narrative in assessing vaccines as a tool to eradicate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Reflection of Self in Postmodern Labyrinth: An inquisitive Study in Stephen king’s The Mist and Misery

This paper investigates Stephen King’s postmodern books Misery and The Mist, emphasizing how they examine the self in connection to literature and reality from a postmodern perspective. Misery lacks supernatural themes, in contrast to previous King works, and instead presents a conventional story that is chamber play-like in its suspense and restraint. Both the books challenge conventional ideas of authenticity, uniqueness, and authority in writing and reading by highlighting the power struggles and tensions between the individual and the community through a variety of techniques. Misery and The Mist present opposing perspectives on the nature of the ego, its place in the postmodern maze of crises and uncertainties, and the moral ramifications of one's decisions and deeds through their stories.

Methodological Combinations in Qualitative Research in Music Education: Autobiography and Grounded Theory

This article explores the theoretical and methodological approaches of (auto)biographical qualitative research and grounded theory, based on their historical and epistemological characteristics. This study in music education aimed to gain an understanding of the process of becoming a primary school music teacher. The Supervised Internship course in teacher education for a music degree was analyzed using the methodological and formative (auto)biographical dispositifs of the Biographical Project Workshop (Delory-Momberguer, 2006) and situational analysis (Clarke, 2005), constructed through the students’ oral, written, and musical narratives based on their experiences as music teachers in the public elementary schools. As a result of the methodological combination, it was found that the research procedure was a collaborative process between the researcher and the participants. This approach allowed for theorizing that did not decontextualize the trainees' narratives. It is recommended to consider using this combination with a postmodern perspective on grounded theory due to epistemological compatibility. Further exploration of the empirical field and reflexivity could contribute to the advancement of qualitative research methodology.

Memory and History in Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending: A Postmodern Perspective

تثير الدراسات النقدية لرواية "الإحساس بالنهاية" لجوليان بارنز، وهي رواية بارزة في أدب ما بعد الحداثة، تساؤلات حول صحة وتكوين الذاكرة والتاريخ والهوية الفردية. باستخدام دراسة شاملة لخطة السرد المحددة والعناصر الموضوعية، توضح الدراسة كيف يستغل بارنز أساليب الكتابة الحالية مثل الراوي غير الموثوق به، والسرد متعدد الخطوط، والخيال الوصفي لإثارة سؤال حول موثوقية الذاكرة وقدرة الموضوع على الفهم التاريخي. من خلال استكشاف السعي الداخلي لبطل الرواية توني ويبستر ومعاناته في تذكر الماضي، يكشف الباحثون عن رسالة مخفية مفادها أن الرواية تنقل فكرة كون الإنسان إنسانًا من خلال التغيير في هوية الفرد وتأثير الماضي على إدراك المرء الحالي لذاته. تكشف النتائج عن مشروع بارنز حول هذه الخاصية المشتركة لرواية ما بعد الحداثة حيث يتم بناء الواقع، وكسر الذات، وفشل التقاليد العظيمة. تشير هذه الدراسة إلى أن "الإحساس بالنهاية" يعكس حالتنا ما بعد الحداثة، مع التركيز على ميل الإنسان إلى عدم اليقين من خلال أنواع التاريخ والذاكرة.

Dinamika Positivisme Hukum dalam Perspektif Modernisme dan Postmodernisme

In this stud, the dynamics of legal positivism are explored through the perspective of modernism and postmodernism to understand changes in the concept of positive law over time. By analysing the evolution of legal views from these two paradigms, this research aims to identify transformations in the understanding of positive law over time. By paying attention to the influence of modernism which emphasizes rationality and legal certainty and postmodernism which highlights the diversity of interpretations on social contexts, this study will provide in-depth insight into the complexity of the dynamics of legal positivism in the contemporary context.

Interpreters’ Lack of Agency in Postcolonial Environments: A Postmodern Perspective

This work investigates the task of the translator in a postcolonial setting. The short story, “Sizin Memlekette Eşek Yok Mu?” [Don't You Have Any Donkeys in Your Country?] by the Turkish satirist, Aziz Nesin, is selected to throw light on the social and political status quo of translators in nonwestern cultures and the impact of imperialism. Using the politics of postmodernism and postcolonial theory, the paper shows how the marginalization of a Turkish interpreter working in the service of an ethnocentric oriental-rug merchant is representative of power relations between the ‘developing world’ and imperialistic states. Some pertinent notions from postcolonial theory including mimicry and hegemony are summoned to illustrate the sharply polarized binary author/ translator. The study also discusses how the extensively studied issue of the invisibility of translators is linked to the essentialist principles of faithfulness, equivalence, and symmetry in translation.

European citizenship and digitalization: A new roadmap for interconnection

EU citizenship is strongly linked to digital transformations, as digitalisation redefines how citizens engage, communicate and participate within the EU. Digital advancements have transformed the European public sphere and are radically changing democratic deliberation by enhancing access to information, facilitating transnational dialogue and fostering new forms of civic engagement. E-governance and digital public services streamline administrative processes, making it more convenient for citizens to access various services. Digitalisation of interaction among EUs’ citizens can support their mobility and connectivity. However, rapid digital advancement also brings challenges of evolving multifaced EU identity in fast paced, post-truth, increasingly complex social system like the EU.The main goal of this article is to show the relevance of postmodern theories for the creation of a theoretical framework for digital European citizenship and the digital European public sphere. By embracing complexity, encouraging critical reflexion and prioritizing adaptability, a postmodern theoretical framework can enhance our understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by digital technologies in the EU context, ultimately contributing to more inclusive, democratic and responsive forms of digital citizenship and public discourse.However, as this article shows, the synthesis of a postmodern perspective and digital technologies can also bring its own challenges, such as fragmentation, epistemological uncertainty or ethical dilemmas. Addressing these challenges requires critical engagement with both postmodern theories and digital technologies, acknowledging their complexities and contradictions while striving to promote ethical and inclusive uses of digital technology that empower EU citizens.

Contested Understandings of Violence: Refiguring Modern and Postmodern Perspectives

There are numerous conceptions of violence today, such as physical, psychological, emotional, structural, and epistemic. The question of which social phenomena are to be described as violence is itself a matter of furious dispute. In social theory, there is a widespread tendency to distinguish between ‘modern’ and ‘postmodern’ conceptions of violence. In this scheme, modern violence is primarily physical, while postmodern violence takes places across a broad spectrum of forms. The paper questions this binary. The co-occurrence and conflict between these forms of violence leads to a third form, which I call refigured violence. The refiguration of violence can be observed in three developments, which are mediatisation, polycontexturalisation, and translocalisation. I provide one illustration of these considerations with the example of so-called shock sites on the internet. In so doing, I emphasise that the sociology of knowledge can provide a valuable perspective for making sense of contemporary discourses about violence in all their complexity.

POSTMODERNIST VIEWS OF TIME AND SPACE IN LITERATURE

The paper analyzes the postmodernist perspectives on time and space portrayed in literature. Postmodernism, as a literary and cultural movement, questions conventional ideas about time and space by highlighting their flexibility, disintegration, and subjective characteristics. Postmodernist literature frequently feature non-linear storylines that blur the distinctions among past, present, and future, interrupting the conventional linear flow of time. Postmodernist literature examines how space is created and dismantled, highlighting its dependence on social and political factors. Spaces are considered to be socially produced structures that mirror and sustain power dynamics and social hierarchies. This paper summarizes the main features of postmodernist perspectives on time and space, emphasizing their influence on narrative organization, identity development, and the examination of power dynamics. The paper highlights the impact of postmodernist views on time and space, such as disrupting conventional narratives, shifting authority, and offering different interpretations of reality. This abstract provides insights on how postmodernist literature questions traditional concepts of time and space, creating opportunities for fresh inquiry and interpretation.

#BlackLivesMatter: Where Do the Paradigms of Public Administration Fit?

This study provides an in-depth analysis of problems and policy proposals related to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement in light of public administration (PA) theories. We examine the extant literature focusing on three PA paradigms: Classical, New Public Management (NPM), and Postmodernism (combined with New Public Administration—NPA). Based on a content analysis of BLM activists’ demands, Congressional bills, and resolutions, this study categorizes the problems and solutions according to the area of concern and PA paradigms. Results indicate that postmodern theories offer crucial lenses to understand BLM activists’ demands. However, Congressional bills and resolutions align more with Classical and NPM paradigms. We conclude that BLM policy proposals are more likely to be implemented if framed within NPM and “soft” postmodern perspectives. Similarly, policymakers and practitioners should know that the BLM movement reflects a postmodern approach. This study provides contributions that are relevant to both practitioners and academics.

Achieving corporate carbon neutrality: A multi-perspective framework

The objective of this study is to analyze the corporate disclosures related to carbon neutrality in the agri-food sector using several complementary theoretical lenses. A qualitative content analysis of climate disclosures made by 135 food and beverage companies shows numerous gaps in the information they provide about carbon emission monitoring, the setting of net-zero emission targets, carbon footprint reduction, and offsetting practices. Taken together, these seriously undermine the credibility of the data disclosed. However, the proliferation of opaque information, unclear targets, and poorly defined concepts on carbon neutrality cannot be explained solely by greenwashing practices. Interpreting the results using functionalist, critical, and postmodernist perspectives leads to different conclusions about the underlying reasons for the lack of transparency in disclosures and offers a broader perspective on corporate carbon neutralization practices. This study makes important contributions to the literature on corporate carbon disclosure and the ideology of numbers that characterizes sustainability reporting. It also responds to calls from a variety of stakeholders for more scrutiny of corporate climate performance. The practical implications of the study and avenues for future research are also discussed.

Ocean Literacy and Metabolic Rift Theory for Addressing the Effects of the Marine Ecological Crisis

Abstract: Natural resources are used by society to produce goods and this proceeding mediated by human work which transforms nature. This process is called social metabolism and is expressed differently throughout history. In the capitalist mode of production, the exchange value subsumes use value and nature is modified on a scale beyond its reproduction capacity, establishing a metabolic rift that expands to different environments, including the marine. Ocean Literacy (OL) – understanding the human influence on the oceans and the influence of the oceans on human society – aims to contribute to overcoming the ecological crisis in the ocean, however, it is focused on a logic that ranges from the Enlightenment to post-modern perspectives. In the present work, it is proposed that OL incorporates the theory of metabolic rift in order to be able to organize society to face the challenges related to oceanic issues such as acidification, extinction of biodiversity, overfishing, etc. Finally, a case study of the “Onda Cultural’” (Cultural Wave) educational initiative of the “Laboratório de Genética Marinha e Evolução” (Marine Genetics and Evolution Laboratory) at Universidade Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is presented in its attempt to incorporate this theory into its OL practices and activities in public schools. Key Words: Oceanic crisis. Metabolic rift. Social metabolism. Estate schools.

Perspectives on Health and Health Education

This study highlights different perspectives on health education. The naturalistic/bio-medical, functionalist, post-modernist, and Marxist perspectives on health and health education were all looked at in this study. The analysis is based on both published and unpublished materials, including online sources. Desk inquiry is the method used for analyzing the literature. Based on biological function and statistical normality, the naturalistic/bio-medical perspective regards health as belonging to a medical origin. By using an organismic illustration, the functionalist perspective emphasizes protecting social equilibrium and stability in order to explain human societies and social phenomena. While pursuing health and health education, the post-modernist perspective emphasizes the multiple realities of human health and class struggle. Each perspective offers a unique lens for understanding health and health education, emphasizing the importance of considering individual and societal contexts.

A Chinese Odyssey to the West from the perspective of postmodernism: narrative, symbol and cultural deconstruction

A Chinese Odyssey to the West from the perspective of postmodernism: narrative, symbol and cultural deconstruction

Exploring the Portrayal of Masculinity in Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question A Postmodern Perspective

This research article explores the portrayal of masculinity in Howard Jacobson’s novel, The Finkler Question, through a postmodern lens. It examines how the novel challenges traditional beliefs about masculinity and male identity, drawing on Jean-Francois Lyotard and Judith Butler to explore the fluid and contested nature of masculinity. Using textual analysis, the study focuses on themes of ageing, sexuality, and power in the portrayal of male characters and their relationships. The findings reveal that these characters navigate complex and contradictory identities, challenging conventional notions of masculinity. The novel critically reflects the socio-political context of contemporary Europe, highlighting diverse expressions of masculinity and the impact of societal expectations and traditional gender roles on male identity. Through its characters, the novel envisions a more inclusive and diverse understanding of male identity, emphasizing the fluid and evolving nature of masculinity. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on gender and identity by demonstrating how The Finkler Question provides valuable insights into the nuanced nature of masculinity in contemporary Europe. The novel's critique of traditional masculinity underscores the need for a more inclusive understanding of male identity and highlights the importance of a postmodern perspective in grasping the fluid nature of masculinity in modern society.