Postmodern Turn Research Articles

The postmodern turn in childhood studies and its pedagogical implications

This paper reflects on the postmodern shift in childhood studies and its impact on education. As scholars interrogate the modern notion of childhood, the discourse of postmodernism has entered the realm of childhood studies, yielding various new perspectives on childhood. The key characteristics of the postmodern shift in childhood studies include: 1) the rejection of essentialism regarding childhood and the recognition of the diversity inherent in it; 2) the deconstruction of binary oppositions and the advocacy for the heterogeneous nature of childhood and the concept of "becoming-child"; 3) the dissolution of the modern subject associated with childhood and the reconstruction of the postmodern subject. Postmodern childhood studies will bring some positive impacts to the field of education, such as focusing on the differences among children rather than abstracting them into a unified map, removing adultism from education, and emphasizing the construction of new forms of child subjectivity in education. However, at the same time, it will also bring many challenges to education, such as questioning the essence of childhood and good education, shaking the foundation of educational existence brought by the dissolution of childhood, and the loss of educational significance due to the fluid and changing construction of child subjectivity. This underscores the importance of acknowledging that as education embraces the discourse of postmodern childhood, both its promises and perils will permeate the educational domain.

Remembering the Future: Situating Oneself in a Constantly Evolving Field

Fields of knowledge are constantly evolving. The postmodern turn in the social sciences and the influence of social constructionism have greatly affected the field of family therapy over the past 30 years. In this retrospective view of the evolution of family therapy, I examine some of the critical changes, including not only major theoretical considerations but also sociopolitical issues. I question the current state of family therapy education, and I further raise the question of how a postmodern, social constructionist, narrative approach can serve our students and our clients. I propose that not only situating ourselves in the epistemology that is shaping us but also maintaining a questioning stance that allows us to continually ask ourselves in what discourse we are standing will serve us well, not only now in times of uncertainty but perhaps far into the future.

Методологические основания интерпретации исторического прошлого как способа воздействия на сознание российской молодежи

The article is devoted to the problem of influencing the consciousness of Russian youth. The aim of the study is to analyze the methodological basis and methods of interpreting the historical past in order to influence the behavior of young people. The article analyzes the peculiarities and role of historical memory in the formation of young people's personality, as well as the methods of its transformation. The author comes to the conclusion that in the era of the postmodern turn in history, the leading direction of manipulating the consciousness of young people regarding the historical past of the country is a constructivist approach to understanding history and a set of technical manipulation tools that serve this paradigm of understanding. Methods of combating this phenomenon should lie in the cognitive sphere. History teachers at schools and universities today are literally on the front line of this battle. The future of the country depends on them. The problem of formation of historical consciousness of young people requires close comprehensive attention of the state, social institutions, scien-tific community and the response of society itself. The results of the work can be useful in scientific research and educational process in the field of national history, social philosophy, political science, sociology.

The curious gap in the experiences of children with exceptionalities in two mainstream primary schools in postcolonial Guyana

ABSTRACT This paper is an outcome from the investigation into the learning and socialising experiences and opportunities of children with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in the two mainstream primary schools in Guyana. This study was conducted using an ethnographic approach over two semesters in 2018 employing participant observation and unstructured interviews. The data gathered were analysed using situational analysis as posited by Clarke (2005. Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications). It revealed that children with exceptionalities also find the two mainstream schools challenging while dealing with marginalisation, discrimination and stay in your lane directives differently than their peers who were perceived as unteachable and unwanted in mainstream schools. The data reveals the innovativeness and resilience of the children with exceptionalities as they navigate the barriers they face in the two mainstream schools. Finally, I reveal through the data the power interplay among the individual children with exceptionalities, children without SEND and their mainstream teachers.

Editorial Presentation: Critical perspectives in social innovation, social enterprise and/or the social solidarity economy

Editorial Presentation: Critical perspectives in social innovation, social enterprise and/or the social solidarity economy

The concept of alterity: its usage and its relevance for critical qualitative researchers in the era of Trump

Alterity is a concept with an extensive yet elusive history. Popularly conceived of as radical difference and Otherness, I identify alterity as the source of much of the virulent forms of racism, sexism, islamophobia, and other dichotomies in society that pit one group against another. Coming out of the tradition of critical qualitative inquiry, I offer a genealogy of the concept of alterity through various contexts and disciplines with a focus on its use in traditional Western philosophy. Within this tradition, the alteric relationship between the Self and the Other was typified by a preeminence bestowed upon the Self and an adversarial, totalizing posture taken toward the Other. Relying on a hermeneutic methodology, I theorize the development of alterity within this tradition as the root of the Eurocentric project of hegemony and subjugation that has culminated in and solidified White supremacy and that manifest today as Trump era articulations of racism and nativism in American society. Detailing the early twentieth century postmodern turn in Western philosophy which rehabilitated the Other from the tyranny of the Self, I use that history as a model for reclaiming the racial, cultural, and religious Others that continue to be marginalized throughout American society. Enlisting the notion of borderlands from border pedagogy, the ethics of care of Emmanuel Levinas, and the tenets of critical qualitative inquiry, I argue for a deliberate and focused project of activist research and critical pedagogy to not only rehabilitate and give voice to marginalized groups but to also deterritorialize the borderlands between the Self of White society and those who have been Othered by White society.

The Role and Significance of Sociological Theory Within Research Traditions in Relation to the Historical Context of the Postmodern Turn

Abstract The paper starts from the role and meaning of sociological theory in the context of research traditions. It begins with a discussion of the positioning of theory within qualitative research approaches in the time context of the late 1980sand early 1990s during the so-called of the “postmodern turn “. Given that the aim of the paper is to consider the genesis of research traditions in sociology with an emphasis on ethnographic research traditions, but it is difficult to start the discussion without grasping the essence of sociological theory. When talking about theory and ethnographic research, there are numerous forms of specific theories that ethnographers have, each of which is applicable to specific topics. The inappropriateness of the theory and the specific research topic results in a misunderstanding in relation to the main research questions. Within the work, the order of knowledge is also problematized, which is associated with ethnography on the one hand and postmodernism on the other, as well as a „reflexive” turn. The postmodern sensibility is especially visible within the reflective moment during the writing process. Postmodern ideas therefore first introduce a new level of criticality within ethnographic research and draw attention to certain topics, processes and phenomena that have not been sufficiently discussed within wider social reflection.

The end of the sociology of Marxism: on the meaning of capitalism in modernity

This study is about the failure of sociology as a discipline and the evolution of its failure from a Neo Marxist perspective since the time of Nietzsche until the postmodern turn. The Berlin Wall was the metaphor for western Neo Marxism and Neo Marxist theory. This study makes use of how the Frankfurt School tried to salvage the namesake of Sociology only to fail as the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989. The study concludes with the incipient nature of sociology as a discipline and how its seeds of destruction were already embedded at the time of its origin.

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

The Production of the Book of Mormon in Light of a Tibetan Buddhist Parallel

Nietzsche, Trump, and the Social Practices of Valuing Truth

Nietzsche, Trump, and the Social Practices of Valuing Truth

Domesticating Hasidism: Neo-Hasidism, Modernity, and the Postmodern Turn

Domesticating Hasidism: Neo-Hasidism, Modernity, and the Postmodern Turn

FOUCAULT, THE MODERNIST?

In this essay, I argue that it’s theoretically and historically misleading to talk about a break between modernism and postmodernism, and more specifically, that thinkers such as Foucault and Derrida, two figures frequently associated with the postmodern turn, are situated within certain rational, enlightenment and modernist traditions. As part of this claim, I explore how features such as essentialism, binarism, determinism, positivism, and productivism are not characteristics that can be applied to all of enlightenment thought and modernism, and that such a description of the enlightenment and modernism would themselves be essentialist and caught up in binaries. To illustrate these arguments, I re-read figures such as Berkeley, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and a range of Modern artists (especially their conceptualizations about essences, representations, and processes), tracing patterns such as plurality, particularity, and absurdity/incoherence throughout their thought. After historical and theoretical overview, I connect the experiential and philosophical patterns existing before our so-called “postmodern turn” to an examination of Foucault’s rational methodology and critical ontology, as well as his theorization of enlightenment thought, power/knowledge, ethics, and resistance (especially in, but not limited to, his later works). Through all of this, I ultimately show that 1) Rather than a break, postmodernism signifies an extrapolation of certain pre-existing enlightenment and modernist trends, and 2) Michel Foucault can be claimed as both an enlightenment thinker and a modernist. Such a set of arguments, if deduced as correct by readers, might restructure traditional understandings of postmodernism and the legacy of enlightenment thought.

Reclaiming Identity: The Postmodern Turn in the Vilnius Architecture of the 1980s

How can we interpret the architects' desire to look postmodern in the last decade of soviet architecture (1980-1990)? Can it be explained according to René Girard’s theory of 'mimetic desire'? How much was it an imitation of Western forms, and how much was it connected to the vernacular turn, resulting in irreverent 'overuse' of historical references? Emphasis on the genius loci, vernacular elements, and search for historical/cultural identity indicates that themes usually associated with the postmodern architecture surfaced in the Eastern Bloc long before the demise of the socialist political system. The paper is focused on the 1980s architectural competitions in Vilnius, Lithuania, where younger generations of architects presented postmodern designs that widely employed historical references

The alliance construct in psychotherapies: from evolution to revolution in theory and research

The alliance construct in psychotherapies: from evolution to revolution in theory and research

An Anthropologist as Expert Witness

Abstract A substantial literature in anthropology claims that there are inherent epistemological and ethical conflicts for anthropologists serving as expert witnesses. James Rose’s article rightly connects this to a “postmodern turn”. He contrasts it with the anthropology of “greater formal and empirical maturity” represented by my work with Dwight Read and a few others. Rose argues that expert testimony based on the latter type of social anthropology has greater legal probity. I have been an expert witness in forty-one cases. I agree. The bulk of his article seeks to characterize this type of anthropology. He proposes a general distinction between “forensic” and “expert”. I argue that it is better to recognize that the two streams are part of a much wider conflict between science based on experimental demonstration and the long and consistently fruitless debate over idealism versus materialism. My approach is part of the former. The conflict between Postmodernism and Positivism is part of the latter. In this article I recall the main intellectual positions that mark the two streams, including landmarks in the anthropology of law. I then address the issues Rose discusses in general terms. I then describe my activities in three specific cases. I conclude with recommendations regarding certification.

Alan Davies: Ostensive Views, Other Views and Native Speakerism, and the Implications of the Latter for English Language Teaching

This paper sets out to answer two questions by characterizing and deconstructing Alan Davies’s seminal views and concepts - especially his ostensive views and his native speakerism - within the context of applied linguistics. Arguing that these are some of Davies’s seminal views and concepts, it offers a philosophical framing of his ostensive views and his other views by maintaining that they entail elements of philosophizing and fragments of the postmodern turn in the manner in which they are articulated in relation to applied linguistics. The paper also argues that Davies’s views of native speakerism are constructed within a classical binary perspective and, thus, can be construed to be fostering othering non-native speakers. In addition, it situates native speakerism within de-coloniality, epistemic break and de-linking, arguing that a de-colonial framework lends itself well to critiquing native speakerism. On this basis, it contends that there is a need to reconceptualize the notion of native speakerism that resonates with a de-colonial perspective. Lastly, the paper offers implications de-coloniality has for ELT.

Multimedia

Multimedia

A necessarily historical materialist moment? Feminist reflections on the need for grounded critique in an age of crises

Global Capitalism, Global War, Global Crisis reminds us how particular moments and events, albeit ones produced by systemic and reiterative processes, warrant serious reflection by scholars seeking to highlight and challenge modes of oppression and inequality. In drawing attention to the ‘violence of abstraction’ the book creates space for reconsidering how we move beyond modes of critique that focus primarily on principles, to those more rooted in historical and sociological practices. In this regard, the book has much in common with many branches of feminist theory which have sought to undermine the violence of abstraction, instead drawing attention to the lived and gendered consequences of global capital, war and crisis. Nonetheless, although the book engages directly and productively with some branches of feminist thought, greater reflection on points of convergence and divergence would highlight more of the book's blindspots and wider contributions. Accordingly, I consider what opportunities the book offers for rethinking feminist critique after the postmodern turn and in an age of crises, and what contemporary feminist theory in turn offers historical materialism. I ultimately aim to show how the present, and the historical and sociological forces that shape it, is necessarily both a historical materialist and feminist moment.

Post-postmoderni subjekt - uloga narativne imaginacije u građenju subjekta

The so-called "postmodern turn" has produced a sense of turmoil in contemporary philosophy and the humanities, subverting the Western mind and provoking doubts in its existence, sense of meaning and purpose. It disputes almost all basic premises of modernity. For example, notions such as: the self, the subject, imagination, became a target of vicious attacks by postmodern thinkers. Counter to the modern notion of the subject, the postmodern subject lacks an essential core of identity: it is fragmented, decentered, in the process of perpetual change or disintegration. A "thinking and reflecting" subject who looks inward to inspect the self is denied, as neither such an interiorized being that examines, conceptualize and interacts with others, nor interiority as such, exist. The subject is nowadays advised to search outward for the ways to interact with the social world, because this a privileged way of construing one's self. In similar fashion, imagination is obliterated and devoid of its creative powers. The "imaginary", as a reference to an impersonal entity, is substituted for the notion of imagination. While the latter stands for an "author" or "creator" who produces or creates images, the former is nothing creative in itself. The outcome is that, in the postmodern theory, the imagination is seen as an obsolete mental ability which is deposed of its power to create meaning. My intention in this paper is not to reanimate the modern notions of the self, the subject and imagination, but rather to consent with the postmodern verdict and proceed onward. It is my intention to build a post-postmodern notion of the self. The purpose of my paper is to introduce a post-Jungian account of the importance that the narrative and imagination have in human life for the constitution of subjectivity and the self.

POST-TRUTH AND NEOLIBERALISM AS FACTORS OF THE CRISIS OF THE HUMANISTIC TRADITION AND EDUCATION: SOME DISCURSIVE ASPECTS OF MODERN THEORETICAL DISCUSSIONS

The article analyzes the results of the latest theoretical discussions in Western political theory, whose participants explore the specific features of the formation of the neoliberal discourse of “post-truth” that destroys the traditions of rational politics and the foundations of the humanistic paradigm of education that emerged during the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. In the modern world, classical humanism contrasts sharply with political realities and ideas prevailing in social discourses, including in the field of social sciences. Nowadays, many intellectuals, politicians and scientists consider it an almost immutable fact that we have all finally transitioned to the world of “post-truth” and “post-humanism”. Therefore, we must come to terms with endless streams of lies, manipulations, meaningless propaganda that significantly primitivize the prevailing ideas about democratic norms and institutions and try to develop a conceptual apparatus that reflects the new reality. At the same time, modern concepts of post-truth in many of their aspects develop ideas that arose at the turn of the 1960s-1970s, when the contours of the “postmodern turn” were only outlined in Western political discourse. Moreover, the historical origins of the modern phenomenon of post-humanism go back to counter-revolutionary ideology and philosophical controversy with the legacy of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment, which was initiated at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries in the works of the “founding fathers” of modern conservatism - Joseph de Maistre and Louis de Bonald. After World War II, an intellectual assault on humanism became one of the hallmarks of French structuralism and subsequent more radical post-structuralist doctrines. The article substantiates in detail the thesis that today the topic of discourse claims to be a kind of “hegemon”, often dictating to the participants in discussions the nature and direction of the argumentation. Scientists’ disputes on various aspects of political dominance, political communication and education are no exception in this regard. In the process of dispersing this trend, it became obvious that a necessary prerequisite for analyzing the language of politics is an understanding of the specifics of its various levels - from “high” political theory to personal, subjective characteristics.