Postnormal Times Research Articles

Emerging Epistemologies: The Changing Fabric of Knowledge in Postnormal Times

Ziauddin Sardar, ed. Emerging Epistemologies: The Changing Fabric of Knowledge in Postnormal Times. London. IIIT and The Centre for Postnormal Policy and Future Studies, London, 2022. 184 pp. ISBN: 978-1-64205-659-4 (hardback); 978-1-56564-602-5 (paperback); 978-1-56564-012-2 (ebook). Ziauddin Sardar’s recently edited book is a collection of articles by several authors on the interesting theme of emerging epistemologies brought about by what he terms “the changing fabric of knowledge in postnormal times.” Apparently driven by an intellectual desire to convey to the whole world the important message that humanity is now living in “postnormal times,” and yet it is still stubbornly clinging to the colonial epistemology, Sardar aptly titled his Introduction “Beyond the Epistemologies of Conquest and Desire.” It is a title that is loaded with messages about the past, at least in the realm of knowledge, beyond which the human mind should now attempt to focus its attention on the understanding of the emerging present.

Islamic Revivalism in Post-normal Times: the Obstruction of More Disenchantment of Islam Throughout Ziauddin Sardar’s Whitewashed Approach Towards Evolution of Integration from Islamization of Knowledge in Higher Education of Muslim Societies

In post-normal times along with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), human society around the world is often considered in the state of contradictory, complex, and chaotic in nature. For Ziauddin Sardar, Muslim societies are living within post-normal times now. Muslims need to deal with so many complex problems of societies. As world citizens, Muslims must contribute to face challenges with all the people of the world hand in hand. Islamic teaching of Unity and Universal brotherhood needs to be implemented when facing all the post-normal challenges. Ziauddin Sardar comes up with the solution to reform in higher educational institutions in Muslim societies. The revivalist movement in higher education in Muslim societies is called ‘Integration of Knowledge’ which is alternative Islamic Revivalism in replace of ‘Islamization of Knowledge’. In the age of Globalization, Sardar urges Muslims to abandon Islamization agenda which is ‘US vs Them’ as Huntington emphasized being the representative of West. Instead, Sardar calls Muslims to embrace Integration of Knowledge agenda as a Cosmopolitan way of Islamic Revivalism. He proposes debate and discussion culture in higher education with all categories of people. This article uses qualitative methodology in which content analysis is adopted. This research finds that Sardar’s approach of Integration of knowledge is effective and beneficial to work with different background of people. However, the more disenchantment of Islam through evolution of Integration from Islamization is visible in Sardar’s approach for higher educational institution in Muslim societies

Postnormal Trust: The Case of the Media

This article is the first installment of a two-part paper aimed at assessing whether the theory of postnormal times provides an appropriate framework for examining the evolution of public trust in the media. Building upon previous studies that have explored the applicability of postnormal times theory in explaining changes in the new century, this paper specifically examines communication as a new case study, delving into factors that either foster or impede trust in the media. This paper argues that communication, both as a theoretical disclipine and as a human activity, exhibits characteristics of postnormality. It contends that not only does communication adhere to the tenets of postnormal times, but it also serves as one of the principal indicators of postnormality on a global scale, particularly concerning trust in the media. The article evaluates the suitability of postnormal times theory to study the recent evolution of communication. It then conducts a review of existing literature on trust in the media and proposes a roadmap for constructing prospective scenarios through the Three Tomorrows’ approach.

ФЕНОМЕНОЛОГИЯ ИСЛАМСКОЙ ТОЛЕРАНТНОСТИ В ПОСТНОРМАЛЬНЫЕ ВРЕМЕНА: ОПЫТ КАЗАХСТАНА

Настоящая статья проблематизирует феномен исламской толератности в реалиях казахстанского общества, анализирует роль исламской толерантности в постнормальные времена. Авторы используют методы феноменологического, постструктуралистского анализа, а также междисциплинарный подход для изучения исламской толератности. Позиция авторов сводится к тому, что ислам располагает внушительным позитивным потенциалом для казахстанского общества, поскольку аксиологический контент толерантности для межконфессиональных отношений поликультурного населения Казахстана имеет непреходящее значение. Ретроспективный взгляд на ислам позволил прийти к выводу о том, что ислам, с самого начала признавал право на «жизнь» всех традиций, с которыми он сосуществовал, что и предопределило ориентированность ислама на интернациональное, межконфессиональное взаимодействие. Особую актуальность приобретает феномен исламской толерантности в условиях постнормального времени, разрабатываемый мусульманским ученым З. Сардаром. Авторы анализируют концепт и причины постнормального времени, а также интепретируют его применительно к жизни казахстанского общества. Авторы приходят к выводу, что изучение исламской толерантности в перспективе способно вывести на первый план этическое наполнение ислама в современном мире.

Sociology in Post-Normal Times

Sociology in Post-Normal Times

Explaining and critiquing the postnormal: A warning against ideologies in the field of futures and foresight

Abstract“Postnormal” currents of thought, which are herein used in reference to the post‐normal science and the postnormal times frameworks, have been tremendously useful to help us understand the limits of science and the nature of societal change. Yet a blanket adherence to these frameworks without scrutiny risks falling into an unsubstantiated ideology. In response to and as a prevention of this risk, this article explains and critiques the two frameworks. It explains that post‐normal science is both a description of a recent trend in science applied to policy contexts and a prescriptive response to new conditions of scientific inquiry. It also explains that postnormal times is both description of societal change and expression of subjective feelings elicited by such change. The two frameworks' merits and limitations are also discussed. The article's conclusion is that while the post‐normal science framework can be rescued with some further qualifications, the postnormal times framework is particularly problematic. The discussion of the two frameworks' limitations is used as a warning against ideological positions that prevent fruitful research in the field of futures and foresight, and to encourage a more informed use of the term “postnormal.”

Будущее приватности сквозь призму теории постнормальности


 
 
 The theory of postnormal times by Ziauddin Sardar is an attempt to explain the social processes occurring when traditional models, theories, and paradigms seem powerless in the face of looming challenges. Postnormal times are an intermediate period when old ideas, theories, and practices are dying and new ones have not yet been formed, and the whole world seems to be plunged into uncertainty and chaos. Privacy is one of the areas where the situation is considered to be already postnormal. Therefore, the article attempts to outline the current state and prospects related to privacy and personal data protection, based on the methodology developed within the theory of postnormal times.
 Complexity, chaos, and contradictions are the main forces propelling postnormal times. All of them are very perceptible in the sphere of privacy. In particular, the outcomes of the major current strategies for the legal protection of personal data are ambiguous and controversial. It relates to the consent of the data subject as one of the main legal grounds for personal data processing, as well as the use of data anonymization and pseudonymization techniques, or the introduction of mechanisms of external risk assessment. In addition, it is argued that in the present world there is a fundamental contradiction between privacy and underlying trends in business and governance, the causes of which are revealed by applying Lawrence Lessig’s theory of four regulators.
 
 
 
 Under such conditions, traditional ways of responding to challenges – turning back, increasing control and complexity of measures – not only contribute to normalization, but drive the system even further into a state of postnormalcy. It is accompanied by the exacerbation of identified critical contradictions and revealing of the new ones that increases the likelihood of collapse of the existing system of privacy protection in the near future. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and promote innovative approaches which include both reforms in the field of privacy regulation and efforts to change the external environment.
 
 
 
 
 

Creativity: The flawed forge of tomorrows

Creativity and novelty have been central to the foresight enterprise and the importance, of creativity, imagination, and novelty are a constant refrain in the futures and foresight literature. There is an emerging literature about the shadow or dark side of creativity. It might be wise to question our assumptions about the benefits of creativity. This article poses the question “what if creativity is a threat to human survival?” seen particularly through the lens of postnormal times analysis and theory. Issues addressed include:the accelerating nature of change itself, particularly driven by globalization and technology innovation, and the disruptive aspects of creativity, negative, and amoral creativity. The bridge between postnormal times analysis of creativity and foresight is the application of the Three Tomorrows scenario-building approach to explore the dark side creativity. Recommendations are made and questions posed to inform foresight work about creativity.

Postnormal Prometheus: How to anticipate and navigate postnormal times

Despite being labelled as a theory of change, so far, postnormal times theory has only offered a broad explanation of why and how change happens in postnormal times. It has merely stated that it is the joint action of complexity, chaos, and contradictions (the postnormal factors) what prompts postnormal change, but has not produced a more thorough explanation of its development. This has made postnormal times to be perceived as unavoidable or fated. This article uses the simile of Prometheus, the classic titan, to determine up to which point postnormal times are truly ineluctable. Accepting that the three postnormal factors need to act jointly to cause postnormal change but rises in complexity appear to act as a catalyser. So, to have an operative way to estimate these grows in complexity levels, the article proposes to break down complexity into concurrency and connectivity. Both parameters can be measured much more easily and provide a workable way to measure these rises in complexity. Ultimately, the goal is to develop an approach to better understand postnormal change and to anticipate it. Thus, by improving our capacity to comprehend and foresee postnormal change we will also enhance our capacity to navigate postnormal times.

Wising up through jazz and the metamorphosis of perception

Today’s postnormal times marked by ‘complexity, contradictions and chaos’ require wisdom to heal ourselves and the planet. That wisdom is currently hidden, and a contribution to ignorance is epistemologies that are split into disciplinary silos. There has long been various theories and practices applied to ‘expand’ consciousness to access wisdom, and we draw upon one such practice that continues to be espoused by respected scholars today. Consequently, this paper argues for a pathway to wisdom that engages imagination and reveals alternative narratives through visual textual images that metaphors provide. The metaphor applied was jazz in its many expressions serving to ‘paint a picture’ of various disciplinary approaches in exploring potential perceptive and transformed knowledge systems. The critical futures research methodology, causal layered analysis (CLA) was applied to knowledges including mono-, multi-, inter-, trans and post disciplinarity. Mapping past, present and future led to a transformed future of radical new knowledges, the plausibility of which was examined through another futures methodology, the Futures Triangle. Potential pathways towards skills and knowledge-building were made visible through metaphor. This is but one pathway to consider in taking us beyond limited boundaries and ignorance towards unity and the wisdom so needed.

Branded activism: Navigating the tension between culture and market in social media

How are brands navigating the tension of being cultural and market players in woke times? What are the futures of brand activism and how can brands and social media contribute to create conversational spaces for dialogue and social change? Brand activism resonates of the struggle that brands undertake to be perceived by consumers as committed cultural authority. This led several brands to fall into woke washing allegations and contestations in social media. Our study dives deep into a successful but highly contested Italian media brand that was launched as a cultural resource for the feminist cause but suffered from strong consumers' critique. Findings reveal how emerging contestation and polarization generated by brand activism in social media are the result of the unresolved tension of the brand being a cultural and a market player. This tension produces a spiral of mismatches between brand conduct and consumer perceptions when the commercial goals of the brand as market player prevail over the cultural value of material and immaterial resources provided by the brand as cultural player. Our study discusses how brands can navigate this tension and leverage on social media to realize wiser digital techno-futures in postnormal times.

Strategic Foresight and Agility: Upholding Sustainable Competitiveness Among SMEs During COVID-19 Pandemic

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Knowledge, Expertise and Science Advice During COVID-19: In Search of Epistemic Justice for the ‘Wicked’ Problems of Post-Normal Times

ABSTRACT A consistent claim from governments around the world during the Coronavirus pandemic has been that they were following the science. This raises the question, central to this paper, of what and whose knowledge is or should be sought, which is being side-lined through the choice of particular framings and discourses, and with what consequences for the creation and implementation of evidence-based policy to tackle wicked problems. Through the lens of Fricker’s epistemic injustice, I problematise the expertise that has guided the COVID-19 response as epistemically narrow and argue that counteracting a monolithic culture of expertise requires tackling the structural inequalities in the systems of knowledge production to diversify the social and epistemological foundations of science. Drawing on Post-normal Science (PNS) theory, I suggest that the expertise needed to respond to the challenges of a post-COVID world is one that embraces greater pluralism, avoids groupthink, challenges the accepted orthodoxy and helps us revert old models and rigid path dependencies that so often neglect the lived realities and demands of those left behind. This can only be realised by overcoming epistemic injustice and embracing epistemic democracy in the practice of evidence-based policy.

Knowledge, Truth, and Education in Post-Normal Times

ABSTRACT The advent of Covid-19, a new and highly contagious form of Corona virus, in late 2019 cast a harsh light on human vulnerabilities and on the provocations (and opportunities) facing humanity. Although many of the more drastic measures applied within educational settings have since ceased to apply, at least for the time being, we are not yet ‘past Covid’: many of the challenges that are discussed here still exist. As we faced unprecedented disruption to economies, societies and education systems, the global health pandemic drew attention to existing inequalities and presented a clear picture of steps required for addressing the education of close to one billion students whose learning was hampered due to school closures. The magnitude of this challenge was and still is starkly manifest with the digital divide on the African continen. Democratization of education has been perceived to include facilitation of both formal and epistemic access (including allocation of new technologies for teaching and learning), reconceptualization of knowledge, truth and learning, recognition of ‘other standpoints for knowledge’ and ‘very different knowledge registers,’ recovery of ‘lost knowledge resources’ and connection of ‘multiple ways of knowing,’ and respectful engagement ‘with indigenous and local knowledges,’ idea that merit critical interrogation.

Book review: Sociology in Post-Normal Times

Book review: Sociology in Post-Normal Times

Book Review: Sociology in Post-Normal Times by Charles Thorpe

Book Review: <i>Sociology in Post-Normal Times</i> by Charles Thorpe

Reply to Futures regarding Diesendorf response to Floyd et al., “Energy descent as a post-carbon transition scenario: How ‘knowledge humility’ reshapes energy futures for post-normal times”, 2020

Floyd et al. (2020), ‘Energy descent as a post-carbon transition scenario: How ‘knowledge humility’ reshapes energy futures for post-normal times’, addresses anticipatory challenges associated with the envisaged transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. We make the case that the epistemic nature of analytical techniques based on quantitative modelling is such that they cannot establish in any definitive sense the feasibility of providing present and future projected global energy services via renewable sources, and that as such energy transition governance and management approaches should be adopted that recognise and respond to this situation, including the plausibility of futures characterised by energy descent that it implies. A response from Mark Diesendorf mischaracterises our case in multiple ways, including to suggest that it is an argument against renewable energy. Further, the response fails to engage with the substance of our arguments for the plausibility of energy descent, and in multiple instances presents our arguments erroneously. We identify the specific failings of the response and show why its claim to have refuted our case is not supported. We discuss the broader implications of the epistemic stance on which the response is based for energy-society futures inquiry.

Hypernormal Films for Postnormal Times: The Documentary Dance of Adam Curtis

Since the early 1990s, documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis has created landmark, multi-episode series for the BBC that explore the emotional and social impact of change in dominant forms of power, communication and control. Together, his ambitious visual essays compose a secret history of technology-driven modernity, as a managerial model of radical individualism governed by data-gathering and surveillance replaces traditional mass politics. This process, which Curtis calls “hypernormalisation,” has affinities with the conception of “postnormal times” developed by Ziauddin Sardar. However, the two visions differ in significant ways, while Curtis’s analysis shows signs of evolving as flaws emerge in the stable systems his work foregrounds.

Becoming future-proof STEM teachers for enhancing sustainable development: A proposed general framework for capacity-building programs in future studies.

Post-normal times and post-normal science are characterized by contradictions, unknown unknowns and uncertainties, and complexity. These global grand challenges require a revolutionary shift in thinking and mindset on the part of teachers and students Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new roles for STEM education that will prepare students for this post-normal world and the sustainability mindset it requires. STEM education supports sustainable development by building the capacities of future generations. The integration of Future Studies (FS) into STEM education practices is therefore critical to support efforts at sustainability and to ensure that students are competent 21st century problem-solvers. Building STEM students’ competencies in this area depends on their teachers having the appropriate knowledge and skills to integrate FS within their subjects. Therefore, Futures Studies should be included in STEM education teachers’ capacity-building programs. Based on a sample of 52 Egyptian university academics, this study revealed the basic knowledge and skills that should be included in a Future-Proof STEM teachers capacity-building program.

A Conversation with Zia Sardar

These are excerpts of a conversation with Ziauddin Sardar in early 2020. Zia gives his definition of postnormal times: how it describes the rapid nature of change, and how it describes the changing nature of change itself. He confronts the inevitability of postnormality given the erosion of trust in politics, and in the spread of fake news and disinformation. It is a characterization of the “hanging between,” the period in between the end of one paradigm and the emergence of another. Given that, it is our obligation to consider the unthought, to drop our assumptions and precepts from the past to navigate to desirable futures. Postnormal times theory is also a theory of change that incorporates the pace of change and resulting complexity, contradictions, and chaos. Unsurprisingly, Zia criticizes postmodernism and distances postnormal analysis from it in no uncertain terms. It is uncertain how long the transition may be to a new paradigm, a new normal, perhaps centuries, but the fact remains, we cannot control postnormal times, simply navigate them.