Postmodern Context Research Articles

Replenishing the Odyssey: Margaret Atwood’s and John Barth’s Postmodern Epics

The paper focuses on Margaret Atwood’s novel The Penelopiad and John Barth’s short stories “Menelaiad” and “Anonymiad,” comparing the approaches of the two authors in their postmodernist retellings of Homer’s Odyssey. Both Atwood and Barth base their narratives on minor episodes from this epic, with its less prominent or unnamed characters assuming the roles of the narrators. Using different postmodernist techniques, the authors experiment with the form and content of the narration, combine different genres, and demythologize the situations and characters. In their re-evaluations and reinterpretations of the Odyssey, they create works which epitomize Barth’s notion of postmodernist fiction as a literature of replenishment. The comparative analysis presented in this paper aims to highlight the ways in which Atwood and Barth challenge the old and add new perspectives on Homer’s epic, at the same time confirming its relevance in the postmodern context.

Analogue ontology and digital disruption

Pervasive digitality reveals us as analogue creatures that are unprepared for a world and a logic generated increasingly through automation. Promulgated by capitalism, digitality has created a new form of alienation, one far more powerful and comprehensive than that envisaged by either Marx or Lukács in the analogue-industrial age. Digital alienation-through-automation is the central process in our digital post-modernity. The effects reach increasing registers and spheres of culture, economy and politics. This essay considers the effects within the production of knowledge within higher education. Through a critique of Clayton Christensen’s concept of ‘disruptive technologies’, it develops the argument that knowledge produced in our higher institutions of learning suffer from two forms of ‘knowledge capture’. The first and most comprehensive is knowledge increasingly oriented toward instrumental outcomes, generated in vocationally oriented and market-pressured contexts, and produced by the general-sector institutions; second is knowledge, much of it profound and potentially world-changing—in economics and climate science in the cases discussed here. These are generated in both prestigious general-sector universities, and in the elite Ivy League and Russell Group universities but are unable to gain traction with an ascendant and alien post-Westphalian, post-modern and post-Enlightenment political context—created by a globalising digitality. I argue that unless we recognise our analogue essence, and that this has been alienated by digital automation, then the aporias of digitality, with knowledge production an important element, then our institution of higher learning will continue to produce much valuable knowledge that has diminishing practical (political) effect.

Visual seduction: Eroticism in surrealistic art photography and postmodern fashion photography

Surrealistic art photography reveals eroticism and nudity as something that both fascinates and agitates, compelling the audience to pay attention, willingly or reluctantly. Undoubtedly, for surrealistic artists the sphere of fantasy and sexual sensation emerge as a source of pleasure and aesthetic sensation. Surrealistic fantasies, dreams and human sexuality have merged with elements of art and porn culture to create hybrid visual forms and postmodern fashion photography is certainly among them. Unlike surrealistic art photography that serves as an emancipatory tactic or as a transgressive act of provoking the public, postmodern fashion photography utilizes eroticism as an expression or vestige of perverse enjoyment. Perversion in the eroticized postmodern context holds somewhat particular meaning. Desire is operationalized without restrictions, appears everywhere while losing its imaginary. Hence, visual seduction is a never-ending game between seducers and the seduced. In light of a growing interest in understanding photography, and visual culture, this article examines how eroticism is constructed through surrealistic photographed content, and it explores the implication of this for further study of postmodern fashion photography. Conceptually, and methodologically, this article draws on semiotics (Roland Barthes), and discursive analysis, including psychoanalytic (Sigmund Freud), and representational theory and practice (Laura Mulvey, Stuart Hall and Jean Baudrillard).

Palimpsests of memory: the medieval city of Athens in modern and postmodern contexts

This article addresses attitudes towards the medieval past of Athens from modern to postmodern times. Athens, a symbol of classical civilisation, had become a provincial Byzantine centre. From the proclamation of Athens in 1833 as the capital of the modern Greek state to about 1880, archaeological research in Athens focused on classical antiquities at the expense of the preservation of monuments of the Middle Ages, which was regarded as a period of decline. The historical and artistic value of Athenian medieval monuments has been acknowledged since the late nineteenth century. The international progress of Byzantine studies, the national narrative on the continuity of Greek history, the political concept of the megali idea (“Great Idea”), and contemporary state policies based on “diachrony and synergy” contributed to this significant ideological shift. Athens is, however, still renowned and admired worldwide for its classical past, with its medieval cultural heritage less highlighted.

Journeying toward Transformative Teaching in the Age of Alternative Facts and Re-Ascendant Ethnic and Racial Prejudice

Background We are at a historical juncture that is punctuated by the rise of white nationalism, an exacerbation of racial divisions and tensions, an uptick in hate crimes, and bullying increasingly targeting immigrant youth, all of which, in the current political and cultural climate, have often been legitimized through a recourse to “alternative facts.” However, the current historical moment in the United States is also marked by a postmodern ethos, which is often taken up by the public in a fragmentary manner, highlighted by a general sense of incredulity regarding any form of knowledge. At the same time, the fuller, ethical context of postmodernism complicates how educators may pedagogically address and respond to the tensions and conflict that filter over into the university classroom from the social strife and injustices evident in the society at large. The ethical context of postmodernism warns against changing hearts and minds with a proliferation of the “right” facts assumed to be devoid of attachments of value. It also warns us to be vigilant against the foreclosures, reductions, and exclusions that occur when one draws on metanarratives and universals to mobilize against injustice. Purpose We explore what it means pedagogically, for teacher educators in predominantly white institutions, to be situated at a historical juncture that calls out for some form of social advocacy on their part to combat the rise in the politicization of truth and xenophobic and racist sentiment, but are simultaneously compelled to keep in mind the ethical lessons of postmodernism. Research Design We utilize critical phenomenological analysis intertwined with a narrative accounting of both authors’ classroom experiences as they attempt to engage college students at a predominantly white university with issues of racism, white privilege, and marginalization. We analyze and reflect on the mixed reactions of our students to a presentation on teaching in a diverse world, given by one of the authors to the other author's class of pre-service teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations For teaching that may facilitate white students’ ability to become reflective of their positionality as structured through whiteness and its attendant privileges, it is important to envision pedagogical work taking place within environments that can address not only students’ cognitive capacities but also the white body schema, which operates at a pre-reflective level. Educators may refrain from reducing white students to reified categories of whiteness by cultivating a disposition of wonder that may allow them to understand whiteness through the lens of emergent realities rather than substantive, ontological forces.

No longer ‘speaking truth to power’

ABSTRACT It is a common assumption that one of the fundamental roles of public theology is to ‘speak truth to power’. This article examines the work of William Temple and Elaine Graham to suggest there are problems with this model. In particular, in our postmodern context, it is difficult to agree on what constitutes truth as well as locate the powerful to whom truth should be spoken. Richard Rorty’s notion of edification is suggested as an alternate model for public theologians. In this schema the public theologian redescribes social, political and cultural texts with a view to providing original insights which engender empathy for the poor and oppressed.

Remapping Taipei for Jameson? Rediscovering the Indigenization, Modernity, and Postmodernity of Taipei

ABSTRACT By offering his interpretation of local movies set in Taipei, Fredric Jameson sought to enrich his postmodern culture theory by further examples. Specifically, Jameson thought there is a major discrepancy between the narrative reflected in the movie Terrorizers filmed in 1986 and the original indigenous narrative about Taiwan, which led to the failure of interpreting the movie based on the indigenous narrative and introduced the postmodern context about the narratives of Taipei. However, his conclusions are not quite convincing, and his choice of interpretive parameters, i.e. mainland movies and western literature, are quite distant from the Taipei experience. To truly understand Taipei’s modernity, three discussions are put forward in this paper. First, the author follows Jameson’s logic of arguments and discovers that his conclusions were based on the texts of the west and mainland China. Second, the author remaps Taipei in the dual contexts of the globalization trend and the historical experiences of Taiwan itself. Third, after re-examining Jameson’s unique but incomplete and biased views of remapping Taipei, the author indicates that the movie Terrorizers is not merely a postmodern narrative about Taipei, but a special narrative based on a mixed context of Chineseness, indigenization, modernity, and postmodernity.

New religions as the postsecular epiphenomenon of globalisation in the contemporary Ukrainian society

The tendencies of postsecularism in the social life of today’s Ukraine are especially significant in their influence on the quasi-religious context of religious worships practiced in the country. These factors erode the modernity basis of the society, and Ukraine appears in the contradictory situation of its intention to complete the modernisation process and oppose the antiglobalistic isolationism. The neo-Protestant teachings and practices are obviouly connected with the principles of liberalism and consumerism. Neo-Oriental and new syncretic religions show that they produce significant influence on spreading globalistic views in the Ukrainian society. The marginality characteristics of new religions prove the idea that their values are a challenge to the essentialistic dichotomies of the Ukrainian traditional churches. The sociocultural and political context of globalisation and postmodernism includes religious transformations axiomatically, and the impact of both on the late capitalism stage is evident in different contexts. The culture of postmodernism makes this process complicated in the countries which are still between modernity and postmodernity. The processes of ‘label change’ are important with the stress on the substitution of the rationalistic foundation by quasi-scientific teachings. The conclusions demonstrate that the very incompleteness of the modernity has led to the expansion of the quasi-religious techniques in the social and cultural life of Ukraine. The erosion of the modernity values results in spreading new religions, which became vivid at the end of the last century. As globalisation promotes syncretic and neo-Oriental religions, antiglobalistic movements are supported by neo-pagan techniques and practices.

Ever Ancient, Ever New by Bevins Winfield

Reviewed by: Ever Ancient, Ever New by Winfield Bevins Rhoda Schuler Ever Ancient, Ever New. By Winfield Bevins. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019. 219 pp. Correction: In this review, the name of the author of Ever Ancient, Ever New was transposed. It should read Winfield Bevins. The online version has been corrected. Research into the phenomenon of evangelical Millennials and Gen-Xers embracing liturgical communities of faith is driven by this author's own narrative of growing up in the free church tradition but of finding his way into the Anglican tradition. He addresses the research question, "What is the allure of liturgy for a new [End Page 113] generation?" in three main sections: "foundations, journeys, and practices" (18). The first asks why young evangelicals are attracted to liturgy; the second "examines various paths . . . leading them into embracing liturgy"; and the third focuses on "practices" for daily living (21). Each chapter concludes with "reflection questions and practices" (43), included to help the reader "find fresh ways of exploring and engaging with these historic practices in meaningful ways" (22). Thus, his primary audience is free church evangelicals who, like him, have grown tired of "a passive consumerist Christianity where the church is 'all about me' and my wants and needs"—a Christian spirituality and life formed by worship that is primarily "entertainment" (191). While written for a general audience, the lack of description of the author's research methodology is a weakness. Still, he defines "young adult"—a term used widely—as "those born from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s" (20). We get a clue to his sample size when he thanks "the dozens of young adults" interviewed (209). He states that his sample comes "from across the United States, all of them from radically different Christian traditions" (33). Nowhere does he provide any details supporting these claims. While I agree with his assertion that "Liturgy . . . is one of the best ways for us to make disciples in a postmodern context" (207), his evidence is anecdotal and supports his own experience. In the first section, interviews revealed eight reasons for the "allure of liturgy," many related to a post-modern context. The liturgy, as "embodied" and "tactile," is holistic (33) and sacramental (39–40); liturgy evokes "a sense of mystery" that "transcends any single culture" (34–35). Young people today are rootless and thus looking for "historical rootedness" and "an anchor" in the midst of "constant change" (41). They are seeking "a countercultural faith" (37) yet a "gracious orthodoxy," defined as "correct belief" that is held "in a way that is 'full of grace'" (40). He defines and describes liturgy. It "tells a story," "forms us," and, most powerfully, "is participatory" (48–54). A chapter covers the beauty of creeds and catechesis as he narrates his path to the ancient treasures of the church. He concludes that the certainty (of beliefs) and "identity within community" offered by historic Christianity create the allure of liturgy (69). [End Page 114] Section two narrates stories of evangelicals migrating to the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican faiths; of young people drawn to monastic writings, communities, and practices; and of "neo-liturgical churches," that is, evangelical congregations following aspects of the historic liturgy and celebrating the Lord's Supper weekly. More stories populate chapter seven, in which he attempts to show that the discovery of liturgy by charismatics and evangelicals may provide a path toward Christian unity (153). The final section begins by describing the value of such things as the daily office and lectio divina. More anecdotal evidence supports his claim that "this generation is reaching the world through mission rooted in liturgy" (176). In the final chapter, the author, with the zeal of a convert, discusses ways in which the liturgy can form families and support their faith development in the home. For those long-suffering lovers of liturgy, there are only old treasures in this book. Yet, criticisms of "contemporary" worship made for decades by serious liturgical scholars may be what is new, for the author critiques his tradition from the inside. Hence, a possible audience may be leaders in historic liturgical denominations who have sold their birthright of living baptismal waters...

Cuando la Postmodernidad es un metarrelato más, ¿en qué educación ciudadana formar al profesorado?

This article is a theoretical reflection on education for citizenship and its role in the education of Social Sciences teachers. Starting from the proposals of Professor Ernesto Gómez, we ask ourselves the situation that Postmodernity is going through as a possible "meta-story" and its repercussions in global citizenship education. The purpose of the text is for the educational community, especially Social Sciences teachers, to think critically about the influence of the postmodern context on the appearance of post-concepts such as postfeminism, post-male chauvism, post-truth, post-fascism... which, in some cases, are pointed out of identity of the new generations of teachers and teachers in training who are part of our classrooms. Two fundamental sections are established that delve into the passage of a citizenship education from the light of Modernity to the plurality of colours of Postmodernity; to later reflect on the pros and cons of Global Citizenship Education in the postmodern context. Finally, the article ends with the question key that begins this work, the education of Social Sciences teachers in citizenship education.

Stealing the Scene: Brian Castro's <em>Double-Wolf</em>

Brian Castro's novel Double-Wolf (1991) is a playful fictionalization of the life of the Russian aristocrat Sergei Pankejeff (Pankeyev, 1886–1979), known to history as the "Wolf Man." This essay seeks to situate Castro's novel within the context of both psychoanalysis and literary postmodernism and to explore the particularities of the Wolf Man case as a narrative that problematizes the borders of fictionality. Like Pankejeff himself, Castro's Double-Wolf remains both skeptical and faithful to Freudian precepts. To maintain this double affinity, the novel adopts a parodic stance and is written in the form of a postmodern farce. However, the purpose of the parody is not finally to suggest that the insights of psychoanalysis are nonsense but that their truth so radically disrupts common sense that they can only be upheld in an absurdist register. Just like Freud's case history, the novel turns on a primal scene, and it is only the existence of such a scene that makes the encounter between the novel's two protagonists (Sergei Wespe and Art Catacomb) meaningful. While the plot of the novel revolves around the attempt to prevent a scandal—the fear that a suddenly chatty Wolf Man might belatedly subvert the psychoanalytic practice that his neuroses helped establish—its true subject is the deeper scandal of knowledge itself and the fact that it might end in a scene and not a statement.

T. S. Eliot in the Art of R. B. Kitaj: Anatomy of an Influence

R. B. Kitaj’s keen interest in literature, which he connected with his Jewish heritage and its reverence for the written word, shows through as an essential characteristic of his art. As a young artist, Kitaj’s cultural referents included Ezra Pound and, especially, T. S. Eliot. The external and imaginative structure of The Waste Land (1922) inspired the composition of Kitaj’s Tarot Variations (1958), while Eliot’s “Notes” to the poem were a model for Kitaj’s “prefaces,” short texts supplementing many of his paintings. If Not, Not (1975-1976) memorialises the Shoah, also drawing on The Waste Land —the definitive text as well as its drafts and critical reception. Like Eliot’s poetry, Kitaj’s art is highly allusive, in a way that conforms to Eliot’s views on tradition and creativity. This is one of the reasons to stress the continuities with modernism in Kitaj’s figurative art, which developed in the predominantly non-figurative context of postmodernism. In later years, Kitaj distanced himself from Eliot—prominently in The Killer-Critic (1997)—rejecting the poet’s early emphasis on impersonality and the anti-Semitism of his verse. Despite these differences, Eliot’s influence on Kitaj was intense, long-lasting and productive. Keywords: R. B. Kitaj; T. S. Eliot; modernism; influence; tradition

Православие и «Радикальная ортодоксия»: понимание «посредничества» и перспективы взаимодействия

The article critically examines the concept of “mediation” used by the modern conservative Christian philosophical and theological movement “Radical Orthodoxy” (arose at the end of the 20th century among Anglican and Catholic philosophers) and also puts the question about the prospects of dialogue between Orthodox tradition and the “Radical Orthodoxy”. The article gives general information about this movement and contemporary researches on it. It is noted that the term “Orthodoxy” in its name does not indicate a connection with Orthodoxy or any Christian denomination but is used in the sense close to the concept of Christian tradition and placed in a postmodern context. “Radical Orthodoxy” considers Christian theology a universal “mediator” which is designed to replace secular meta-discourse and strengthen the voice of Christianity in the world today. The author notes that the idea of universal mediation is connected with the gnostic approach to theology. Analyzing the principles of philosophical and theological constructions in this movement the author draws a parallel between the proposed concept of “mediation” and the fact that the authors of “Radical Orthodoxy” of all the themes of Russian religious philosophy showed special interest in gnostic Sofia. The article analyzes the origins of this view of Sofia and identifies the margins beyond which the Church considers sophiology to be a heresy. “Radical Orthodoxy” sophiologizes the concept of “mediation” in order to protect it from the threat of its “adaptation” to secular reality and to establish an ideal mediator which possesses the maximum possible explanatory theological flexibility. Nevertheless, this approach has some vulnerabilities, since its way of theologisation of secular discourse can lead to the opposite effect – the secularization of theology, which was sometimes done by Russian religious philosophers of the 19th-20th centuries. In conclusion the author argues that a successful dialogue between representatives of the Orthodox tradition and the “Radical Orthodoxy” is more promising in the socio-political plane than in the theological one.

Нерадикальная «Радикальная ортодоксия»: борьба с секуляризмом методами постмодернизма (на примере работ Дж. Милбанка)

The article analyzes the features of the methodology of the “Radical Orthodoxy” – philosophical and theological movement for the deconstruction of secular “meta-discourse” (by the example of the works of J. Milbank). The author notes that “Radical Orthodoxy” resembles Russian conservative and traditionalist discourse, whereupon it attracts lately the interest of the Russian academic audience. However, this movement is unfolding in a postmodern context, which complicates its identification with Russian traditionalism and religious-conservative approaches. The article notes that the definition of «secular» in “Radical Orthodoxy” is ambiguous. In addition, there are three postmodern features in Milbank's style of presentation: linguocentricity, deliberate complexity, nominalist character. The author explains the postmodernist style of “Radical Orthodoxy” basic texts by the two intentions of its creators: first, the desire to non-radically revise the history of the Modern time in order to preserve the modern construction of global Westcentricity while introducing just soft changes in its content; second, by the desire of the “Radical Orthodoxy” movement participants to protect themselves from marginalization. The author refers to the culture-specific approach (perspective) for the analysis of the “Radical Orthodoxy”. The author comes to the conclusion that the “Radical Orthodoxy” is not an anti-secular, but rather a different-secular movement, which seeks to reconsider secularism peacefully, maintaining the functioning of its structure and rebranding it in Christian forms.

The Christian Meditation Movement: A Critical Perspective

The Christian Meditation Movement: A Critical Perspective Alexandra Slaby Introduction Lex orandi, lex credendi. The law of prayer determines the law of faith.1 In other words, how you pray determines how you believe, and how you pray can modify what you believe. Since the end of the Second Vatican Council, which steered the Catholic Church in the direction of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, and in the postmodern context of an interiorisation of faith, Catholics have been led to ‘ask themselves what value non-Christian forms of meditation might have for [them]. Above all, the question concerns Eastern methods’.2 Fascination for Eastern forms of prayer among Catholic laity and clergy is not new and predates the 1960s. As early as 1943, German JesuitHugoLassallesawthatthemeditationtaughtbyJapaneseZenBuddhism helped him deepen his Catholic faith, and his work has been carried on by Belfast-born fellow Jesuit William Johnston.3 Benedictine monks also have a long history of interest in bridging Eastern and Western contemplative prayer practices – from John Cassian who inspired the Benedictine Rule to Henri Le Saux (aka swami Abhishiktananda)4 to Jean-Marie Déchanet (aka the father of Christian yoga)5 to John Main, the founder of the Christian Meditation Movement to Laurence Freeman, his disciple. It has never been easier to travel East, physically or culturally. At the same time, however, Christians are less well equipped for this spiritual encounter than in the past, when the contents of their Christian faith were transmitted with a reliable continuity in time and space. Meanwhile, Eastern spiritual traditions are valued in a postmodern, New Age synthesis of cultures and spiritualities where ecclesial authority has been challenged and where elements of different faiths and spiritualities can be combined (‘Buddhist and Catholic’) if they offer a new hope of receiving affirmation and healing. Eastern meditation has gained a growing attraction in the Western Catholic world, to the point where it has become a mainstream practice taking place in spiritual and lay settings. In Ireland, it is not uncommon to find The Christian Meditation Movement: A Critical Perspective Studies • volume 108 • number 431 313 Studies_layout_AUTUMN-2019.indd 81 21/08/2019 09:14 Irish Catholics saying that such a form of meditation helps them in their Catholic practice. The Dominican retreat centre in Tallaght offered a Holy Week session in 2018 called ‘Zen and the self-emptying of Christ’. Louis Hughes OP in Kilkenny writes and preaches about body-mind spirituality, yoga and Christian meditation.6 The Jesuit Centre for Spirituality and Culture in Galway has recently been organising sessions called ‘Dive Deeper: Exploring spirituality and ways of prayer’ in a ‘contemplative approach drawing on Christian spirituality and Eastern practices such as mindfulness’.7 The newsletters of Christian Meditation Ireland, Irish chapter of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) show that the group holds sessions in various parishes throughout the country. These developments unfold at a time when, the Vatican notes, ‘it must unfortunately be admitted that there are too many cases where Catholic centres of spirituality are actively involved in diffusing New Age religiosity in the Church’.8 New Age religiosity is animated by the aspiration to create a global spirituality transcending boundaries between faiths, in search of a common global spiritual core which will unite mankind among itself and with the cosmos. So, when we hear the phrase ‘Christian mantra’, as proposed by WCCM, not only the Tibetan meditation bell, but alarm bells may ring as well. Can such a word and a practice as ‘mantra’be imported into the Christian prayer tradition without modifying the contents of the faith? It is in the light of these questions that I would like to offer an attempt at discernment on Christian Meditation Movement, understood as the prayer practice taught by WCCM. John Main’s Christian Meditation movement The Christian Meditation Movement, led by Anglo-Irish Benedictine monks, is embraced and established in Irish Catholic life, judging by the frequency of visits to the island by Fr Laurence Freeman and by the invitation of Mary McAleese as speaker at the 1997 John Main Seminar which was held in Dublin. Beyond Ireland, the movement is relatively marginal, but has not been condemned, and its members have...

Narrative Ethics of Post-Modern Visual Culture between Chinese “Diors Series” and Western “Loser Series” in Comparative Perspective

The main characteristics of the post-modern culture such as counterculture, non-conformism, virtualization, fragmentation, mass culture, business culture and irrationalism etc., decide the post-modernity of visual culture. “Film”, as an indispensable element of visual culture, has a narrative ethics that can be used for an interpretation of ethical orientation and ethical values in post-modern visual culture. This article, by comparing “Diors image” in Chinese Diors series with “loser image” in western loser series, the typical post-modern visual image, takes the post-modern context as the focal point and makes a further study of “Diors culture” or “loser culture”, which is formed in the phenomenon of post-modern culture, and thus explores narrative ethics and ethical values in post-modern visual culture.

A Confessional and Narrative Vision for Philosophy of Education: Justification and Basic Presuppositions of a Postmodern Approach

In this article, we attempt to justify and present the basic presuppositions of a (Christian) confessional and narrative vision for philosophy of education in a postmodern context. We argue that although the nihilistic strand of postmodernity challenges the viability of religious discourse, postmodernity also re-opens the world toward its pre-rational foundations by means of the rediscovery of the primacy of narrative. In a postmodern age, any philosophy of education implies a basic understanding of, at least, the (historical) present and the past, in order to establish its place in the scholarly community of educators and educationists. We discern between two different versions of postmodernity and then proceed to explore what constitutes the postmodern narrative identity. Because the rise of postmodernity is intrinsically linked both to modernity and to the pre-modern Christian vision of the world, we explore the justification of a (Christian) confessional and narrative vision for philosophy of education in this respect by means of three fundamental questions. By elaborating on a postmodern Christian vision and by attempting to answer these questions in a narrative manner, we propose that a confessional and narrative vision for philosophy of education may be justified for the contemporary age. Toward this end, we deepen the postmodern rediscovery of narrative further by exploring the work of narrative. We then present a brief confessional account of the nature and scope of philosophy of education. Finally, we propose some of the central tenets of the Christian faith as presuppositions of our vision for philosophy of education.

Immagini, immaginazione e immaginario. Richard Kearney e la veglia poco funebre del postmodernismo

Images, imagination and imaginary. Richard Kearney and the not so mournful wake of postmodernism. This essay aims to locate The Wake of Immagination within Richard Kearney’s scholarly research and relate it to current theorizations of postmodernism, with a focus on the function served by images, imagination and imagery in the postmodern context. In so doing, it questions the philosophical grounds of Kearney’s investigation, his genealogy of the concept of imagination throughout the centuries and across cultures, and his subsequent analysis of the contemporary age and its idiosyncrasies: from image addiction, through the crisis of creative imagination, to the persistence of an ethic imagery still able to articulate possible narratives that are responsive to the demands of the Other .

Romanticismo y antirromanticismo en La La Land

Dentro de su clasificación genérica, La La Land fue etiquetada como musical romántico. Aunque no hay duda de que se trata de un musical, el artículo pretende reflexionar sobre su consideración como obra romántica, ya que también se pueden encontrar rasgos antirrománticos dentro del contexto postmoderno en el que fue creada. Para ello, se hará una introducción a los conceptos de Romanticismo y antirromanticismo y luego se abordará el estudio de la película desde tres ángulos distintos que parecen convivir en ella: desde aquellas películas que narran los sueños de un personaje por ser una estrella del mundo artístico, el melodrama romántico y el difícil equilibrio entre vida personal y carrera profesional. Se trata solo de tres de algunos de los géneros o tipos de películas que inspiran el guion de La La Land que, como pastiche postmoderno, busca un mensaje original y actual partiendo de la cinefilia, el homenaje y la nostalgia.

Efecto modulador del liderazgo transformacional en el estrés laboral y la efectividad escolar percibida por trabajadores de educación básica de Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco

El estrés laboral docente, y su impacto en la efectividad escolar es un tema relevante y de importancia, tanto científico como social. Estudiar el estrés laboral del magisterio es una necesidad en el contexto educativo pues permite trazar medidas preventivas y de afrontamiento. El contexto de la posmodernidad y de un mundo tecno-globalizado, repercute en este nivel educativo tanto en su misión como en su función social, los trabajadores de educación básica no solo tienen por encargo la formación del niño o adolescente, sino también cubrir los espacios de aprendizaje que la familia no puede suplir unido a las demandas de eficacia y a la influencia de las condiciones de trabajo en la cultura organizacional escolar.
 El propósito del presente estudio fue determinar un modelo explicativo que corrobore el efecto moderador del liderazgo transformacional sobre el efecto negativo del estrés laboral sobre la efectividad escolar en los docentes de escuelas de educación básica de Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco. Se asumió un diseño de investigación de tipo no experimental transversal y con alcance explicativo. Se declara de esta forma, pues se observa el estilo de liderazgo, el estrés laboral y la efectividad escolar, tal como se presentan en el contexto de la educación básica por lo que no se construye ninguna situación, sino que se observan situaciones ya existentes. La metodología es cuantitativa, se utiliza un modelo de moderación a través de la interface process en el programa SPSS.25.
 Se evidencia en el presente estudio, que existe, relación –negativa- entre el estilo de liderazgo transformacional y el estrés laboral docente percibido. En el mismo tenor, se muestra como hallazgo la relación negativa entre el estrés laboral y la efectividad escolar percibida. Se demuestra que, a mayor estrés, menor será la percepción de efectividad escolar, por tanto, el resultado avala la necesidad de intervención para reducir el estrés laboral y potenciar la efectividad de las escuelas estudiadas. El liderazgo transformacional constituye un modulador del estrés laboral y la eficacia escolar por lo que se demuestra que directores capaces de influir como modelos en sus trabajadores, con adecuado uso del carisma y tolerancia psicológica, así como con una actitud personalizada y más humana hacia sus trabajadores garantizarán escuelas que resulten menos afectadas por estrés laboral, más efectivas en su misión social, organizacional y, por tanto, más saludables.